Cottam, Ontario
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- Main article: Kingsville, Ontario.
| Cottam, Ontario is a small community within the town of Kingsville, Ontario. The community's population is around 300, and has a branch of the Essex County Public Library and a United Church[1]. Until recently, the village also had its own Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce branch. |  |
*Application made to the town of Kingsville for the rights to use any images available from the Town of Kingsville website. Oct 31, 2007
Contents |
[edit] Neighborhoods
Despite its tiny size, Cottam has three distinct neighborhoods. The first, known simply as the core. It's here where the Essex County Public Library branch, Kingsville Fire Department (North Station), Gosfield North Communications Co-Op offices and Cottam Rotary Park are all located. The core is the hub of all activity that takes place in the hamlet. From kids sitting in trees eating mulberries to the tractor pull to games of strikeout against the municipal building to the tomfoolery of the youth, it all happens here. The second is known as the South Side. This consists of anyone living south of County Road 34 (formerly Talbot Trail). There is but a gas station, grain elevator and a few struggling businesses on the South Side. Lastly, there is Back of Cottam, simply referred to as BC by the locals. BC consists of Gosfield North Public Elementary School, home of the Cougars. It's also the far flung home Belleview Golf Course, and the quickest, most unpatrolled route to neighboring Essex. Many locals speed across the tar-and-chipped road known as South Talbot Road to avoid Ontario Provincial Police. Venturing West past town is more significant parts of Cottam. The Produce Stands are located just outside of the inner town on the main road. There is Murray's Market and Pretlies Market. This part of town is also home to the Fillion family which has been living there many years.
[edit] Youth Recreation
Since its erection in 1964, the uptown Cottam telephone booth has served as the primary gathering point for the town's youth. Affectionately known as the "Cottam Social Club", the booth serves as the seat of all youth culture within a mile's radius. Cottam teenagers can still be seen congregating around it on Friday and Saturday nights. Cottam is also home to the Nobodeez, a small group of friends that make videos on youtube [2]
[edit] Industry
Cottam youth, for years, relied heavily on Funk Seeds, an expansive corn grow op that had fields all across Essex County. Funk's employed hundreds - almost thousands - of youth during the summer months, paying them seasonal farm wage, which is far below minimum wage, to de-tassel their crop of corn. Kids would squirrel away money and spend their savings on skateboards, rollerblades, baseball gloves and also junk food purchased at the now defunct Cottam Mini Mart.
Cottam also has very popular youth leagues for soccer and baseball.
[edit] History
A long-standing joke among the locals revolves around how the tiny hamlet got its name. A favourite told to visitors during the annual Rotary Horse Show and Tractor Pull, held in July each humid summer, is told as follows: When early settlers moved east and inland from Windsor, they came across farmland and bush inhabited by native Canadians. A settler asked one friendly Indian "What do you call this village of yours." Just then, a cottontale rabbit, extremely common in the countryside, ran by and the native reached down with his quick and skilled hand, grabbing the rabbit by his hind legs. He held the rabbit up to the settler and said, in slow broken English, "Caught him!"
2007 Beef Scare
Cottam received its 5 minutes of shame in November of 2007 when a Windsor Star story listed Cottam Cold Storage Meats as possibly selling beef which may have been contaminated with a strand of E. Coli bacteria. The Star reported that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned people not to consume beef purchased between June 23 and July 7, 2007.
There were no reports of anyone getting sick from the beef but the news made many residents worry since a large percentage of people in Cottam consume a diet of strictly beef and Cheese products from Cottam Cold Storage.
[edit] Images
