Shakespeare is a village and designated place

Designated place

A designated place or DPL is a type of community or populated area identified by Statistics Canada for statistical purposes. DPLs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages.DPLs are communities that lack...

 within the municipality of Perth East

Perth East, Ontario

The Township of Perth East is municipality located in Perth County, Ontario, Canada and situated north of Stratford.Milverton is the major community of the township, where the municipal administration is based...

 in Perth County

Perth County, Ontario

Perth County is a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. The county seat is Stratford and is located in Southwestern Ontario, west of Toronto. It encompasses , 90% of which is classified as prime agricultural land...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 with a population of 750 in 2006. Shakespeare is located on the Highway 7

Highway 7 (Ontario)

King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 and historically as the Northern Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario...

/8

Highway 8 (Ontario)

Provincial Highway 8 is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its total length is 138.5 km, though it was once much longer, running farther east from Hamilton to Niagara Falls, before the Queen Elizabeth Way replaced its role.- History :Highway 8 is one of the...

, just east of Stratford

Stratford, Ontario

Stratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of 32,000.When the area was first settled by Europeans in 1832, the townsite and the river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is the seat of Perth County. Stratford was...

 (named after Stratford upon Avon, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

) and west of Kitchener

Kitchener, Ontario

The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

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History

Shakespeare was founded in 1832 by David Bell, and used to be known as Bell's Corner. The name changed from Bell's Corner to Shakespeare in 1852 when Alexander Mitchell suggested naming the town after his favourite playwright

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

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Events

Every year Shakespeare celebrates the town community with its own holiday called Field day. Field Day is usually celebrated in early June on a Saturday. There is a parade in the morning, followed by a community breakfast and fun events throughout the day. In the evening, everybody gets together for the Fish Fry held at the Shakespeare Optimist Hall. Shakespeare celebrated its 60th Field day in 2007.