| Official Name: | Turtleford |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Pushpin Map: | Saskatchewan#Canada |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Turtleford in Saskatchewan |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Type2: | Rural Municipalities (R.M.) |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Name1: | Saskatchewan |
| Subdivision Name2: | Mervin No. 499 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Olson, Roland (2012) |
| Leader Title1: | M.L.A. of Cut Knife-Turtleford |
| Leader Name1: | Larry Doke |
| Leader Title2: | MP of Battlefords—Lloydminster |
| Leader Name2: | Rosemarie Falk |
| Established Title: | Post office Founded |
| Established Date: | 1913-12-01 |
| Established Title2: | Village |
| Established Title3: | Town |
| Established Date3: | July 1, 1983 |
| Area Total Km2: | 1.69 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Total: | 525 |
| Population Density Km2: | 311.6 |
| Timezone: | Central Standard Time |
| Utc Offset: | −6 |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −5 |
| Coordinates: | 53.3833°N -165°W |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | S0M 2Y0 |
| Blank Name: | Highways |
| Website: | Official Website |
| Footnotes: | [1] |
Turtleford is a town in the Rural Municipality of Mervin No. 499, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Turtleford is located on Highway 26 near the intersection / concurrency with Highway 3 and Highway 303. The nearest cities are North Battleford and Lloydminster. The Turtlelake River runs through Turtleford, and nearby are Brightsand Lake and Turtle Lake.
Turtleford has the Canada's largest turtle statue (more than eight feet tall), named Ernie. "Ernie the Turtle" is on Highway 26 near the south edge of town.
A small vulnerable songbird called Sprague's pipit has a breeding range in the northern Great Plains of North America, and amongst their breeding spots is Turtleford, Saskatchewan.[2]
First settled in 1907 and 1908 the town was named for its proximity to the early river crossing (or ford) on the Turtlelake River. A post office opened in 1913 and by 1914 the ongoing extension of a Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) branch from North Battleford had reached Turtleford.[3] By 1915 dozens of businesses had opened and Turtleford became a major centre for the area population.
The North Battleford — Turtleford Branch of the CNoR (later merged into Canadian National Railway), which primarily serviced the grain elevators used by the farmers northwest of North Battleford, ceased operation by 2005, when the remaining elevators closed.[4] The branch had served Hamlin, Prince, Meota (1910 extension), Cavalier, Vawn, Edam, Mervin and Turtleford, and had been extended farther northwest to Cleeves, Spruce Lake, St. Walburg (1919 extension), with a fork to Paradise Hill and Frenchman Butte.[3] [4] The rail line and Saskatchewan Highway 26 ran beside each other from Prince to St. Walburg.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Turtleford had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 1.66km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[5]
Turtleford (Turtleford Community School) belongs to Turtleford School Division #65 a part of Northwest School Division.Turtleford is served by Lakeland Library Region — Turtleford Branch