Wawota is a town of 543 people, located along Highway 48 in southeast

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Established in 1905, its name is from

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, a ...

"wa ota", which means "much snow". Wa means 'snow', oda or ota means 'much'. It is sometimes mistakenly said to mean 'deep snow'.

History

The town's motto, "Progress Through Perseverance", is fitting, as Wawota has made a concerted effort in the last few decades to remain a vibrant community for people of all ages, despite the ongoing challenges faced by nearly all rural towns in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

. The loss of the local

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, the so-called Peanut Line, in August, 1961 is often cited as a galvanizing moment for the community, and the dawn of the town's progressive spirit. Regionally, Wawota is perhaps best known for its long history of successful sports teams, most notably in

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, as well as its unusual collection of

fire hydrant A fire hydrant, waterplug, or firecock (archaic) is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply. It is a component of active fire protection. Underground fire hydrants have been used in Europe and Asia since at least ...

s, painted to resemble various people and cartoon characters. Wawota is also noteworthy as the 'twin capital', due to the large number of twin births recorded in the community, particularly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Wawota had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Parks and recreation

Sports facilities include Lyle’s Ball Park for babeball, Wawota Forum for hockey, Wawota Curling Rink, and a soccer pitch. The Wawota Flyers senior men's hockey team of the

Big 6 Hockey League The Big 6 Hockey League is a senior men's ice hockey league in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. There are currently nine teams in the league. The league began in 1959-1960 with four teams, the Bienfait Coalers, Frobisher Flyers, Glen Ewen ...

plays at the Forum and the Wawota Pats senior men's baseball team of the Saskota Baseball League plays at Lyle's Ball Park.

Notable people

*Former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player

Brooks Laich Evan Brooks Laich (; born June 23, 1983) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He played over 750 National Hockey League (NHL) games across four teams: the Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Los Ange ...

References

External links