The city is situated on the border with the United States, across from the town of Madawaska, Maine. The area was at the center of the Aroostook War over the boundary line between the USA and what was then British North America.
Every year in August, there's a huge cultural festival in Edmundston called the Foire Brayonne. The festival is the biggest french festival held in Canada outside the province of Quebec.
Forestry is the major industry in the Edmundston area, with several sawmills and paper plants in the vicinity, the biggest one being the Fraser Plant.