Squirrels, oil and gas recognized in Edson coat of arms

The Town of Edson revealed its coat of arms, recognized by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, on Jan. 2, 2019. (Courtesy: Town of Edson)

EDMONTON — In 1973, as Edson prepared to cohost an annual meeting of Alberta’s urban municipalities, the wives of the town’s councillors brainstormed how to make their town memorable.

Millie Crawford, the wife of then-mayor Jim Crawford, and her cohorts settled on an animal they felt signified the town roughly 200 kilometres west of Edmonton: the squirrel.

“They were abundant in Edson and they were friendly little fellas,” explained Shari McDowell, manager of the Galloway Station Museum and Travel Centre.

“So they made — along with anyone that they could drag into it — 400 ceramic squirrels to hand out at this conference, along with some peanuts — about 100 pounds of peanuts — with Edson written onto them and some tie clips for the attendees,” McDowell said.

“They just wanted to make sure Edson was remembered.”

The squirrel would even become the town mascot, named Eddie, and a statue of him sits in Edson’s RMCP Centennial Park.

In another, more recent self-branding effort, the squirrel has made it onto Edson’s coat of arms, recognized officially by the Canadian Heraldic Authority.

Edson revealed the finished coat of arms on Thursday. It pays homage to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway — the route for which Edson was developed as a divisional point — as well as elements of its local economy, like forestry, coal, and oil and gas.

McDowell said the museum took part in some of the discussions surrounding the coat of arms’ design.

“The railway is the reason we’re here… so the railway was historically, we felt, important,” she told CTV News Edmonton.

Atop the crest perches a grey owl, a species local to the region, and on both sides of the herald, a squirrel on a log holding a pine cone.

“I have told the mayor this so I don’t feel bad about it: I didn’t think I was going to like it,” McDowell said.

“With the squirrels, I was concerned that they might be too cartoony. I didn’t know how they were going to make squirrels look serious. But I do think it turned out well.”

She added: “It just gives Edson another way to promote itself and it gives a good visual picture of what the area is about.”

A spokesperson said the town only used a crest, previously, for branding purposes, and that the coat of arms would be used to establish a corporate identity.

"We could have gone the usual route with deer or moose supporters, but we wanted to represent our community and our history. The squirrel has been our town mascot for close to 50 years. We're proud of our history and the squirrel represents both our mascot (Eddie) and the forest industry with a long history in Edson," Steve Bethge told CTV News Edmonton in a statement.

"Some people really love it and other(s) really don't. Anything artistic always has a differing of opinion. But it's certainly recognizable and it's certainly Edson," he commented.

According to the Town of Edson, the total cost of the three year design and registration process was $4,500.

The project was given the goahead by the town's previous council in April 2017, and reaffirmed to move forward by the current council in August 2018.