Hailey Stewart is in Grade 2 and is constantly on the lookout for rocks.
Not just any rocks —painted rocks which have been hidden all over the city of Melfort. She’s found these rocks at the grocery store, the hockey rink, and even a quilt store.
There are instructions on the back of every rock telling people to post a photo of the rock on a Facebook page and then hide the rock somewhere else — and somewhere else doesn’t have to be in Melfort.
Posts have been made on the Facebook page from Alberta, British Colombia and even England.
All of these rocks were painted and hidden by a team from Plus Industries, a Melfort organization to support people with intellectual disabilities.
Brenden, who has cerebral palsy, is one of these artists. His favourite thing to paint is blue chickens.
“He can’t move much so it’s hand over hand and we put a paint brush in his hand and show him what we are going to paint,” explained Russ Floyd, a worker at Plus Industries. “Then we paint and he really enjoys it.”
Floyd came up with the idea after hearing about a similar project in Winnipeg. He says it’s been a great way for the organization to connect with the community in Melfort and make their presence known.
The group has hid more than 800 rocks over the last year and a half. Almost one for each of the 900 members of the Facebook page.
