Ed Fest will bring Cranbrook Ed downtown on 100th anniversary of his naming

The free Sept. 18–19 Ed Fest will combine the centennial story with live music, art and a 16-foot elephant puppet.

The free Sept. 18–19 arts and music festival includes a downtown parade with a 16-foot elephant puppet on the centennial date of Charlie Ed’s renaming.

On Sept. 19, a 16-foot elephant puppet will appear in downtown Cranbrook, exactly 100 years after Mayor T.M. Roberts formally gave a captured circus elephant a new name on Baker Street.

The Giant Elephant Puppet Parade is part of Ed Fest, a free, all-ages arts and music festival running Sept. 18 and 19 at Rotary Park. Organizers are using the 2026 festival to commemorate a century since several Sells-Floto Circus elephants escaped in Cranbrook on Aug. 6, 1926.

The festival’s second day falls on the anniversary of the ceremony that turned Charlie Ed into Cranbrook Ed. Rotary Park provides another connection: after Charlie Ed was captured, he was housed in an old arena rink on the site of the present-day park and exhibited there during the Cranbrook Fall Fair.

Three elephants remained loose

Historical accounts disagree on how many elephants escaped from the circus. The Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History examined reports ranging from five to 14, while establishing that three—Tillie, Myrtle and Charlie Ed—remained loose for an extended period.

The search involved circus workers, local residents and Ktunaxa trackers. Contemporary newspapers differed over how much credit the trackers received, and some reports minimized their contribution.

The Columbia Basin Institute says Terry Timothy, Seymour Williams, Michael Michel, Chris Joseph, Abe Sebastian, Gus Williams and an unidentified woman described as a relative of Gus Williams shared a $200 reward following Tillie’s recovery. A later account in the Cranbrook Courier described Ktunaxa guides leading circus workers to Charlie Ed and constructing the snare used during his capture.

Tillie was the first of the three to be recovered. Myrtle was found badly injured and exhausted and died in September. Charlie Ed remained loose until Sept. 14, when he was captured near Jim Smith Lake after 39 days away from the circus.

Sept. 12, which the Ed Fest website gives as his capture date, was the date he was sighted near Lumberton. The Columbia Basin Institute’s chronology places his capture two days later.

Charlie Ed was returned to Cranbrook on Sept. 15 and appeared at the Fall Fair beginning the next day. He was housed in the old arena rink before being led through downtown on the morning of Sept. 19.

The Columbia Basin Institute’s exhibit quotes the Cranbrook Herald as reporting that Charlie Ed stopped outside the Royal Bank at about 8:30 that morning. Roberts poured champagne over his head and declared that he would thereafter be known as Cranbrook Ed.

Sells-Floto assistant manager Orville F. Stewart had requested the ceremony in recognition of railway trainmaster A.J. Ironside’s work recovering the elephants and as a gesture of appreciation for Cranbrook residents. Cranbrook Ed was later taken to the railway stockyards and sent to California to rejoin the circus.

A 16-foot Ed will return to the streets

Cranbrook performer Marcel Dou Roig designed and built the 16-foot fabric elephant puppet that carries Ed’s name through the modern festival. Dou Roig has worked in theatre, dance and large-scale street puppetry, and the official Ed Fest biography says he presented Ed the Elephant at the festival in 2023.

The Giant Elephant Puppet Parade is scheduled for Sept. 19 in downtown Cranbrook. Festival material also calls the event the Elephant Stampede and says performers will accompany Ed through the streets with skits and other interactions.

Organizers frame the escape around freedom, imagination and creative expression. The festival’s history expressly says Ed Fest does not celebrate animals in captivity.

Lemon Bucket Orkestra is scheduled to headline the mainstage at 8:35 p.m. Friday. My Son the Hurricane follows at 8:45 p.m. Saturday.

Other performers announced for the festival include the Dean Smith Trio, Cranbrook Community Dance, the Kootenay Women’s Choir, Kimberley Pipe Band, Brass Roots, Heather Gemmell, Cara Luft with Clayton Parsons and Cranbrook band Side Hustle.

The weekend will also include the Cranbrook Arts Lantern Parade, art workshops, live painting, vendors, food trucks and the JCI beer garden. Erica Konrad’s Trunks on Trees installation will place elephant trunks on trees in Rotary Park, while the Great Ed-xchange will allow visitors to decorate and trade ceramic elephants.

The Cranbrook History Centre will contribute an interactive history video, historical photographs and articles about the city’s past.

History Centre programs begin Sept. 15

The History Centre has scheduled two additional programs connected to the elephant story.

Elephant Tales, a free Toddler Tuesday program with elephant-themed stories and activities, runs Sept. 15 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Preregistration is required.

The centre’s Cranbrook Ed; The Elephant Run day camp runs Sept. 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The program is open to children ages five to 10 and costs $45 plus GST. It will include a short downtown walking tour if weather permits.

Ed Fest runs Friday, Sept. 18, and Saturday, Sept. 19, at Rotary Park in Cranbrook. Admission is free.