Bison, buffalo, North America’s largest land animal. So much to celebrate on four hooves has become this year’s official face of Edmonton.
Coming soon to a T-shirt or mug near you, the bison was voted the 2026 successor to the magpie.
Michael Overduin and his family business Edmonton River are tasked with fulfilling the campaign which explores different animal species each year.
“The city council said they would like some help from the citizens to co-create images that reimagine the city and give people a reason to tell stories about it. So we’ve been working with a variety of leaders and also citizens and growing every year,” Overduin said.
“Every year the theme changes. We ask the community what they think is an under-appreciated dimension of Edmonton’s identity. The bison was suggested a year ago, so we got cracking and came up with some images with the community.”
Past selections include the beaver in honour of the Indigenous name for Edmonton, “beaver hills house.”
“They (bison) meant so much to the First Nations. They were a source of food and shelter, clothing, you name it. They use the whole buffalo as well.
“They are amazing creatures that were critical for this region and life and the livelihood of the people who lived here for thousands of years. We wanted to reawaken that part of the identity, that the history of the relationship between the bison and the people who lived here,” Overduin said.
Edmonton River is now asking for people to vote for one of three images — although one technically has both last year’s and this year’s celebrated critters. The choices are displayed at edmontonriver.com.
“One of the bison does have a magpie on its back trying to clean the insects from irritating the bison,” Overduin said.
The winner will be plastered on T shirts, hoodies, mugs, and other merchandise in shops around Edmonton, “so people can then get their merchandise and talk about their own stories about why the bison might mean something to them,” he said.
Bison Edmonton
Bison Edmonton
The bison has been chosen as the Face of Edmonton for 2026, and company Edmonton River is circulating various designs that locals can vote on as the official design.
Give me a home where the buffalo roam
You can find them in the film “Singing Back the Buffalo” and Terry Lusty’s song “Welcome Back Buffalo.”
Lower in cholesterol than chicken, a bison burger on the grill from producers like Thundering Ground Bison, True Grit Buffalo and Alberta Bison is the closest most people ever get to the high-in-iron offering.
But there are bison in the city’s future.
There was going to be a bison statue at the Walterdale Bridge, but that plan changed.
The Edmonton Valley Zoo has included a bison habitat in its long range plan, appropriately enough, said Overduin.
“They’re under-appreciated as part of our identity now, but they were so critical. They used to roam this region across the river, and so there’d be literally millions crossing this region every year,” he said.
The nearest place to enjoy buffalo in the wild is Elk Island National Park, where a herd of hundreds is lumbering like they did in the days before settlement. They grow from 20 kilograms at birth to 2,000 kilograms — about the size of a small car — and they’re reproducing, with some used to populate new herds across Canada and the U.S.
Wildlife artist and photographer Memory Roth snaps photos of bison from at a safe distance at Elk Island National Park east of Edmonton last September. photo by Ron Richey.
Bison hangout
It’s almost April, which means Elk Island will soon be open for visitors.
In the spring and the summer, the bison often move along the roads that park visitors use, so there’s a good chance of seeing at least a handful of the creatures, a favourite creative subject for St. Albert photographer and artist Memory Roth.
Roth recalled an August visit to Elk Island.
“As the sun was coming up, it was a little bit misty, the bison were in front of us, and the sun was shining like they were backlit. I got some amazing photographs of them with their breath and steam coming off of their backs. That was really special,” she said.
“Another time, all of a sudden, the whole herd came across the highway, down the hill, through the bison loop, and then through the sort path and out to the field. It was incredible,” she said.
“They were making all this dust, and there were the babies and the mamas and the bulls, it was really something.”
The web page for Elk Island National Park offers visitors guidelines for safely navigating on roads shared with the herd.
https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/elkisland
jcarmichael@postmedia.com
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