Eddie the Squirrel has been Edson’s trusty mascot since 1973.
One evening, the wives of Edson’s town council met to discuss ways to promote Edson for an upcoming convention.
At the time, the mayor’s wife had been purchasing small pottery squirrels from a local couple, and suggested that these be handed out as gifts to delegates at the convention.
400 ceramic squirrels were painted and glazed for the conference, and the women also decided to create badges with squirrels on them and wrote the town name on peanuts that Edson Councillors would later hand out to delegates at the convention.
The first Eddie the Squirrel proudly welcomed visitors to the Travel Centre in RCMP Centennial Park for at least 50 years before his well-earned retirement in 2009.
In 2011, in conjunction with the reopening of the Galloway Station Museum & Travel Centre, a new Eddie the Squirrel was unveiled in the center of the park, complete with a cast bronze spruce cone and a stylized airbrush paint job.
Today, Eddie the Squirrel continues to be a draw for travelers and local alike, with thousands of people stopping in to pose with the large red squirrel.
