Ayr

Scottish settlers named it for home, and Ayr keeps the feel: a stone-and-brick village core, a beloved fall fair tradition, and quiet streets just minutes from the 401. The village sits where Cedar Creek meets the Nith River, and both run through it past parks and old mill sites. The old core is on Stanley and Northumberland streets, with buildings from the 1800s. In Centennial Park, Wilma's Walk circles Watson's Pond in the middle of the village, and the Campbell Trail follows the water to the Jedburgh dam. Cowan Park has soccer fields, a skatepark, a spray pad and a walking loop, and the Ayr Farmers Mutual Community Centre stands beside it. Farmland begins at the edge of the village.

Abel Mudge was the first settler, in 1822, and he built a dam and mills where Cedar Creek meets the Nith. In 1840 the post office was named Ayr, chosen by Robert Wylie after his home town of Ayr in Scotland, and most of the settlers who came were Scottish. John Watson founded the Ayr Agricultural Works in 1847, and its factory of 1882 made it the largest agricultural works in Canada at the time. Ayr was incorporated as a village in 1884.

The 2021 census counted about 1,840 homes in Ayr. About three in four are single detached houses. About one in ten are in apartment buildings under five storeys, and semi-detached and row houses make up most of the rest. About one in four homes were built before 1981, and more than a third between 1981 and 2000, most of those in the 1990s. More than a third were built in 2001 or later.

Highway 401 is about 3 km north of the village, at the Cedar Creek Road interchange (exit 268). Downtown Kitchener is about 19 km away in a straight line, and Downtown Galt in Cambridge about 14 km. Paris, in Brant County, is a short drive south. Grand River Transit does not run to Ayr; the nearest routes are in Cambridge. In the village, Wilma's Walk, the Campbell Trail and the Eby Trail make walking loops, and the Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail runs along the Grand River in the east of the township.

Cowan Park on Greenfield Road has a spray pad, a skatepark, four soccer fields, a playground, a covered picnic area and a 0.9 km walking loop with exercise stations. Victoria Park on Rose Street has tennis courts, two lit ball diamonds and a pavilion. Jim Schmidt Memorial Park on Hilltop Drive has lit ball diamonds, tennis and pickleball courts, an accessible playground and a pump track. Skén:nen Park on Robert Woolner Street has a splash pad and a junior ball diamond, and Appleyard Park, Douglas Park and Piper's Glen Park are close to home. Centennial Park has Wilma's Walk around Watson's Pond. The Ayr branch of the Region of Waterloo Library is at 137 Stanley Street.

• Ayr Public School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for most of the village, on Hall Street.
• Cedar Creek Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the newer streets in the south-east, and the middle school for all of Ayr, with French immersion from Grade 2 to Grade 6.
• Southwood Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school, in Cambridge, about 12 km away.
• St. Brigid Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school, on Broom Street in Ayr.
• Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for St. Brigid's family of schools, in Cambridge, about 14 km away.