From Balzac Billy to Pinto MacBean to the Beaverlodge Beaver, Alberta is home to some of the most colourful mascots.
Mascots represent a town’s identity and have symbolic value.
For example, Jasper the Bear is the mascot of Jasper National Park and promotes the importance of environmental stewardship.
So, why did Edson choose a squirrel for its mascot, and why are people so crazy about it?
You might be surprised!
Competitive Crafting
The story of Edson’s mascot, Eddie the Squirrel, dates back to 1973 when the wives of Edson Town Council members began preparing for the Alberta Municipalities convention in Jasper.
One evening, the ladies gathered over coffee while their husbands were at a Council meeting to brainstorm ways to promote Edson at the convention.
At the time, Mrs. Millie Crawford found great joy in purchasing small pottery squirrels handmade by Art and Frances Ciciarelli.
The tiny squirrels were actually crafted using Edson clay and symbolized the town.
The women agreed that if Jasper could claim a bear as their mascot, Edson could claim a squirrel. Thus, Eddie the Squirrel was born.
From Small Pottery to Statuesque Squirrel
Without skipping a beat, the town came together to prepare for the convention.
With the help of the ladies, councillors, their children, and anyone else willing to help, Art and Francis Ciciarelli created 400 painted and glazed squirrels.
Other promotional items included badges with squirrels on them.
The town also created unique “business cards” that printed the town’s name on 100 pounds of peanuts.
Edson town councillors would hand out these peanuts at the convention.
Even the Edson Leader, Edson’s weekly newspaper founded in 1911, was fired up.
One article from the newspaper wrote:
Now, while Edson’s Town Council members are involved with the serious business of Alberta’s urban problems, their wives will be busy as hostesses making darn sure that everyone who attends the convention will KNOW WHERE EDSON IS LOCATED the next time they are asked.
Edson took things one step further in 1980 when the town unveiled a cement Eddie the Squirrel. The statue was designed by Trygve Seland and crowdfunded by the community.
Seland was an artist known for designing 30 other giant monuments across the province, such as Drumheller’s Little Church and Barrhead’s Aaron the Blue Heron.
Eddie the Squirrel stood tall and welcomed travellers in front of the Edson Chamber of Commerce for 30 years.
Eddie Retires
Eddie the Squirrel’s job wasn’t easy. Over his decades of service, the proud mascot has been vandalized a few times.
One resident said a rival rugby team vandalized the statue in the early 90s.
The town’s mascot earned his retirement in 2009, but that wasn’t the end of Eddie.
In 2011, when the Galloway Station Museum & Travel Centre reopened, Eddie Jr. was born.
Skookum Creative Works designed Eddie Jr., who is complete with a cast bronze spruce cone and a stylized airbrush paint job.
“We think he’s the largest red squirrel in Canada. It’s amazing the number of people who stop and get their picture taken with Eddie,” Shari McDowell, Manager of the Galloway Station Museum, told the St. Albert Gazette.
Eddie the Squirrel and Eddie Jr. might not be the flashiest mascots, but what they represent is worth more than appearances.
Their story comprises community, working together, and friendly competition between towns.
Eddie the Squirrel is the best mascot Edson could have asked for.
