Avonlea ( 2016 population: ) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nort ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in 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 the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

within the RM of Elmsthorpe No. 100 and Census Division No. 2. The village is approximately south-west of the City of Regina. The

Southern Rails Cooperative The Southern Rails Cooperative Ltd. (SRCL) is a Canadian short line railway company operating on trackage in southwest Saskatchewan. Southern Rails Cooperative was the first shortline railway to operate in Saskatchewan and operated as the firs ...

maintains its head office in the village. Along the east side of the village, heading north, is Avonlea Creek. Avonlea Creek is a tributary of the Moose Jaw River and it joins the Moose Jaw River near Rouleau. About south-east of Avonlea, is Avonlea Dam, which was built on Avonlea Creek between 1963 and 1964, creating the Reg Watson Reservoir. The reservoir is the village's only water source.

History

Avonlea incorporated as a village on February 10, 1912. The village was named after the fictional town of Avonlea,

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

Lucy Maud Montgomery Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with '' Anne of Green Gables''. Sh ...

's novel ''Anne of Green Gables''. The television series ''

Road to Avonlea ''Road to Avonlea'' is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the ''CBC Family Hour'' anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created b ...

'' is based on the book.

Parks and attractions

Avonlea Heritage Museum houses many artifacts from the area in the train station, and contains an indoor Main Street, agricultural displays as well as murals by accomplished local artist Paul Geraghty. Avonlea Badlands are four kilometres away to the west on private land. Guided tours are available through the museum. The picturesque Dirt Hills to the west are home to natural flora and fauna. The Dirt Hills are the largest push moraine in the world. Dunnet Regional Park, which was named after a local

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the ...

, was built and opened on the west side of Reg Watson Reservoir in 1967. The park provides

RV park A recreational vehicle park (RV park) or caravan park is a place where people with recreational vehicles can stay overnight, or longer, in allotted spaces known as "sites" or "campsites". They are also referred to as campgrounds, though a true ...

s, camping, fishing, boating, a swimming pool, and eight baseball diamonds. Fish species in the lake include

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by S ...

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...

white sucker The white sucker (''Catostomus commersonii)'' is a species of freshwater cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but it is also found as far south as Georgia and as far west as New Mexico. The fish is commo ...

, and

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiformes, gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. It is also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, and eelpout. The species ...

. Walleye are liberally stocked in the lake.

Sports and recreation

Long Creek Golf & Country Club is an 18-hole championship

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The ...

four kilometres east of the village along Avonlea Creek. Avonlea is home to the Avonlea Arrows of the senior men's Highway Hockey League.http://www.highwayhockey.ca/ The team plays at the village's Avonlea Arena.

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, Avonlea 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. In the 2016 Census of Population, the Village of Avonlea recorded a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

References

External links