A rock from the Lansdale Rocks Group.
Sometimes, the smallest things can bring a community together, and for Lansdale residents, those things include painted rocks.
Last year, Connie Landis, of Lansdale, saw posts on the Facebook group "Citizens for the Revitalization of Lansdale," that said there was a lack of activities for kids to do in the borough. Landis had noticed other communities that chose to paint and hide rocks, and she immediately fell in love with the idea.
Those events motivated Landis to form "Lansdale Rocks," a Facebook group dedicated to the painting and hiding of rocks throughout the borough. Residents paint rocks and hide them in plain sight, and those who find them are asked to take a photo of the rock and post it to the Facebook group.
“I just grabbed a couple rocks from my garden and painted maybe five or six of them and then posted them on Facebook,” said Landis.
Initially, she posted her photos on the "Citizens for the Revitalization of Lansdale group," but once enough interest was received, Landis started a separate group. Now, the group has more than 650 members.
While the number of rocks currently in “circulation” is too high to count, there are members who put out four or five rocks a week, according to Landis.
One of these members is Sherri Willi, who first heard about the group on a Facebook post on the Discover Lansdale page. She was excited that borough residents had created a rocks group, since she had seen other areas participate in similar initiatives.
“I've painted and hidden close to 150 rocks so far,” Willi said.
Rita Proud, another member of the group, has both found and hidden rocks, as well. She has also painted 12 and placed them around town.
“Our first rock was just painted yellow, nothing special, but was special to me as it was the first one,” Proud said. “I think that finding painted rocks is fun,” Proud added. “[It] makes you want to keep on looking.”
The group hopes to help spread creativity and joy throughout the community, one rock at a time
“I love seeing pictures when people find rocks,” Willi says. “It's nice to know you gave somebody a smile.”
