Twin brothers each propose clock landmarks in their respective B.C. municipalities
Downtown clocks have long been landmarks in bigger cities, but many municipalities across B.C. do not have one
Great minds think alike — especially when you're twins, like 75-year-old Jim and John Guild from B.C.'s Kootenays.
Two months after Jim's proposed clock was installed in downtown Invermere — a community in eastern B.C., near the border with Alberta — in December, his twin brother John requested the same in Nakusp.
During a council meeting, John proposed a similar clock be installed along the main drag of the village, about a 370-kilometre drive west of Invermere.
"We love to do community projects together," Jim told host Sarah Penton on CBC's Radio West.
"This is a together community project in separate towns."
Downtown clocks have long been landmarks in bigger cities such as Vancouver, but many municipalities across the province do not have one.
In late 2021, Jim, a dentist, teamed up with his partner, as well as a friend in Invermere, to buy a freestanding black-and-white clock with Roman numerals, worth $10,000.
They donated the clock to the District of Invermere, which was later installed at the intersection on its main street, 7th Avenue, in early December.
More recently, on Jan. 9, John and his wife pledged at a Nakusp council meeting to contribute $5,000 toward installing a clock in front of a historic courthouse at the intersection of Broadway and 5th Avenue.
John says he needs to raise an additional $10,000 to make the clock installation happen.
"This is a project that we thought is a little bigger than our average financial investment, but we thought it would be a lasting tribute to the downtown area," he said.
The Village of Nakusp says it is considering the proposal.
With files from Alya Ramadan and Radio West