Searching for rocks has become a Sea Cavalcade tradition for the past 13 years. But not just any rocks – these are specially painted smooth rocks from the beach and hundreds of them will be hidden in Gibsons Landing on Saturday, July 28 on family day of Sea Cavalcade for kids to find in a treasure hunt.
The event is called Virtues Rocks and the bottom of each rock has a word painted on it that reflects some virtue in life: peace, respect, tact, joy, justice, according to teachings of the Baha’i community. The top is also decorated with images of birds, starfish, lizards, turtles, mandalas – whatever the artist likes to paint.
Richard Curll has been painting rocks with simple, colourful designs for the treasure hunt for the past five years and he describes how it all began. Angela Minten was looking for a way to contribute to the community spirit of Sea Cavalcade when she spied a rock on the beach with a word printed on it. The idea fit in with her involvement teaching children and she began to paint. This year, along with her own brush strokes, she has engaged a group of kids to do some painting, too.
The words are designed to make children think about the many virtues and talk about it with their parents, Curll said. The size of the rocks determines the word. “The bigger rocks get longer words like forgiveness,” he said.
One of the most prolific rock artists is Joyce Ripper. Every year she paints between 150 and 200 rocks, each with a different bird image on it. The rocks are finished with a clear varnish, so the image will remain and it can be placed in your garden. Of the 250 rocks to be hidden this year, 30 of them will have a message on the bottom that makes them a prize winner. Kids take the winning rocks to the info booth on Gower Point Road on Family Day where they can receive a small prize and read the definitions for all the virtue words.
The Virtues Rock treasure hunt takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 28 in Gibsons Landing at Winegarden and Holland parks.
For more on the weekend’s activities see seacavalcade.ca
