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(Special to the Independent News)

Florissant resident, Andrew Harris, was visiting family in Illinois and attending a little league baseball game for his nephews when he noticed something sitting on a park bench. Looking closer, he saw it was a rock. But not just any rock, this one had been painted and had a message inscribed on the back including “Granite Rocks” and instructions to look on Facebook. What Andrew found were multiple thousands of people engaging in community, not just in Illinois, but all over the country through painting and hiding rocks for others to discover.

Inspired by the experience and the opportunity to bring it closer to home, Andrew and his wife Lindsey brainstormed on the way back how it might look and work best in Florissant. Lindsey offered, “Why not just make it all of North County and call it NoCo Rocks?” And that evening “NoCo Rocks” was born.

The next couple of days, the couple and their daughter Adalee (age 7), along with visiting grandparents worked on painting some rocks to start off with and documenting with photos to share to a newly created Facebook group.

“I suspected the kids would like it and it worked well in other places, but I never expected the huge and collaborative response we saw, even in the first week,” said Harris. “Within the first couple of days, mostly parents with children were already out hunting the rocks, following the clues on the group page. Some of the rocks we posted with clues and others we just placed to see if someone would find it and then find us.”

Andrew began to solicit some assistance with the group from friends, including Steve Woodridge of Hazelwood, who began helping to manage the group. The pair has collaborated on other projects at McNair Elementary in Hazelwood School District and also as volunteers for the non-profit, Empower North County.

Within the first 4 weeks of the group’s existence it has grown to over 1,600 members and each day picks up more either through word of mouth or individuals finding rocks and looking it up. “What added to the excitement for me was how businesses and organizations started to notice the attention they were getting from supporters. I began to realize the impact and awareness it could bring, but also just as an avenue for ‘community’ as many of the posters were commenting on meeting each other and making new friends or getting together to paint rocks. Right away we saw plans for Girl Scouts and youth groups to paint together.”

Many of the first rocks wound up being placed in Old Town Florissant and members of the Old Town Partners took notice, inviting Steve and Andrew to talk about the rocks at their next meeting. Also, Goldkamp Heating & Cooling offered to sponsor a table with supplies for rock painting as pre-movie activity at the June 26 community movie night, Finding Dory.

While many of the rock posts have been found in Florissant, members and hidden rocks are reaching to other areas of North County including Ferguson, Hazelwood, and St. Ann to name a few. While the kids really enjoy it, Andrew points out it’s not just for the kids. Adults enjoy this too!

“If you find a rock, please join us if you’re on Facebook. Painters love to see when their work is found. If not, just enjoy it anyway,” said Harris. Ideally, many of the rocks are re-hidden somewhere for another to find. “But many times, we see a rock that becomes an encouraging token for someone. We think that’s really great and we champion them to keep it! While Facebook is the tool, most of the magic happens with families or groups around a table or out in the community,” said Harris.

‘NoCo Rocks’ Unites Families, Groups to Participate in painting and hunting for the rocks.

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