Taber is famous for its corn due to the large amounts of sunshine the area receives.

However, various letters and station heads came out printed "Taber," so the CPR changed the name to make it match the records.

An alternate version of the town's name origin is that the first part of the word tabernacle was used by Mormon settlers in the vicinity, and the next Canadian Pacific Railway station was named Elcan (nacle spelled backwards).

A number of archaeological discoveries were made in the vicinity of Taber, including that of extinct buffalo,[7] and the so-called "Taber child" in 1961 by the head of a Geological Survey of Canada team Dr. Archie Stalker in the glacial deposits along the east bank of the Oldman River.

Local produce includes pigs, beef, sheep, poultry, sugar beets, potatoes, peas, carrots, wheat, flax, barley, corn, beans, sunflowers, oats, onions, canola and mustard.

There are several food processing companies based in the town, including a Frito-Lay factory, which produces various snack products for much of Western Canada.

Cornfest is an annual summer festival held on the last full weekend in August, and includes a midway (rides, booths, and tests of skill) and a stage with performers.

[13] It is the largest free family festival in Western Canada, and is organized by the Taber and District Chamber of Commerce.

The Town of Taber gained notoriety when it adopted a bylaw on February 23, 2015, that granted the police and bylaw officials the authority to levy fines for controversial actions including swearing, public assembly, spitting and applying graffiti on one's own private property.

[19] The town defended its adoption stating the bylaw "is intended to consolidate existing municipal regulations and allow enforcement under a municipal bylaw rather than the Criminal Code" and citing concerns about unnecessary prosecutions clogging the court.

[26] In 1981, the Town of Taber and Notogawa, Japan signed the original Twinned Municipalities Agreement.