A familiar face dropped by Kimberley City Council chambers on Monday evening — former Mayor Jim Ogilvie.
Ogilvie was there to speak to Council about the branding process the community is about to embark on.
He wasn’t there to object to it, in fact while Mayor he did speak about the importance of branding. Ogilvie was there to ask Council to consider that above Bavarian themes or anything else, Kimberley has one common threat that has tied people to this community since it was founded and even before.
That thread is the mountains.
Ogilvie said he began thinking of the upcoming branding process when he received a phone call from someone concerned about the cost of producing Kimberley’s story. That contract
for $80,000 went to local firm Story & Co.
The caller, Ogilvie said, pointed out that Kimberley’s history had been told in a book called Mountain Treasures, published in 1979 by the Senior Citizens’ Association.
Ogilvie said he explained that the branding exercise was not quite the same thing, but he did reread Mountain Treasures and it reinforced to him the role the mountains have played in the history of Kimberley.
“We need to recognize the part mountains have played in our history and the effects on our hearts, souls, bodies and minds,” he said.
Long before settlement, native came to pick berries on North Star Mountain and also to mine rocks on Myrtle Mountain for making arrowheads and tools, he said.
Then came the mines themselves, three of them on North Star Mountain, which provided a good living for many generations. The people of Kimberley have always turned to the mountains as a source of peace, a kind of magic, Ogilvie said.
“They have the power to rejuvenate the mind and cause people to feel good about themselves and the world in general.”
“I think it could even be said that we have the mother lode of mountain magic located right here in Kimberley,” he said.
“I just want to be sure mountains are taken into account going into the branding process.”’
Council thanked Ogilvie for attending, many saying they agreed with his comments.
“I really appreciate you coming out,” said Coun. Darryl Oakley. “The history of the mountains is so strong in Kimberley. I don’t know where the branding will go but I do know history will be fully respected.”