Wawota is a town of 543 people along Highway 48 in the southeast part of the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. 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 ...

"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. The loss of the local railway, 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 family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, as well as its unusual collection of

fire hydrant A fire hydrant, fireplug, firecock (archaic), hydrant riser or Johnny Pump 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 a ...

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; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, 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 baseball, 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, Saskatchewan, Frob ...

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; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player

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

References

External links