Cupar (/ˈkjuːpɑːr/KYOO-par)[5] is a town 75 kilometres (47 mi) northeast of Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Cupar is settled on the flat plains 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of the scenic Qu'Appelle Valley. Known for its remarkable hockey history, it is often called the Home of Eddie Shore, as the legendary NHL defenceman was raised there.
Cupar is the home of artist Jacqueline Berting.[6] The Berting Glass studio is located north of town. One of her best known works is The Glass Wheatfield, encompassing 1,400 waist-high glass wheat stalks, each piece individually hand cut and lamp worked. Berting calls her work "a salute to the Canadian farmer".[7]
The town hosts the Cupar Gopher Drop, a unique lottery held every summer. Stuffed toy gophers (Richardson's ground squirrels) labelled with numbers are dropped from a hot-air balloon along with numbered gopher holes. The "owner" of the gopher that lands nearest Hole 1 wins first prize, and so on.
History
Cupar became a village in 1905. It was named by a Canadian Pacific Railway official after the town of Cupar in Fife, Scotland. The town celebrated its centennial in 2005.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Cupar had a population of 598 living in 246 of its 274 total private dwellings, a change of 6% from its 2016 population of 564. With a land area of 0.86 km2 (0.33 sq mi), it had a population density of 695.3/km2 (1,800.9/sq mi) in 2021.[10]
^Commissioner of Canada Elections, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada (2005). "Elections Canada On-line". Archived from the original on 21 April 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
