Paint A Rock Hide A Rock Day

Two weeks are left until July 24th. A special day for all rock painting groups. All over the world rock painters prepare for this day. The rock gets a blue background and a red heart is then painted on it. On July 24th the rocks are then hidden.

What is the story behind ‘Paint A Rock Hide A Rock Day’?

Paint a Rock Hide a Rock Day was invented in 2018 by Nancy Powell Pierson a rock painter from Ohio and the creator of  ‘Northeast Ohio Rocks’. Her intention for this event was to bring all rock painting groups of the world together and celebrate, what we all do, painting rocks, hiding those, and bring joy to the person who finds the rock. She decided, to choose a simple design – a red heart on a blue rock –  for this event so that everyone can take part. So keep your eye out for these rocks. Especially on July 24th, you’ll have the chance to find many of these kindness rocks.

Why a blue rock with a red heart?

Not only is this a simple design everyone can paint, but it is also a symbol. The blue color represents the world and the red heart represents the kindness that we share when we release our rock and thus beautify the day for the finder.

 What to do if I find a blue rock with a red heart on it?

The lettering on the backside of the rock indicates which group this rock belongs to. Search for this group on Facebook and join this group. Take a photo of the rock and post it, you can tell the group where you found it. Then keep the rock or hide it again, to put a smile on someone else’s face.

The event

Today July 24th is the big day. All my heart-painted rocks are sealed and packed. Ready to go for the walk with my rock painting group this afternoon to hide our little works of art.

This year, this rock-hiding day has been given also another purpose. Last week, many families in Germany lost their homes and all their belongings due to heavy rain, extreme floods, and the resulting landslides.
Many rock groups organized donations for the flood victims. We also wanted to contribute something to help.
That’s why we decided to turn this rock hike into a charity hike for the flood victims. For every kilometer that is run or walked €2.50 were donated. Not runners can donate a fixed amount, everyone, as much as he can and likes. Our rocks are distributed everywhere in and around our community. The finders will be happy and with this, we have done a good deed raising funds for the flood victims.

The Walk

Our small group of ten women and one man met at 3 p.m. at our event organizer’s home. Each participant was given a beautiful rock necklace with a painted heart.

And off we went, loaded with stones that we wanted to hide somewhere or give away during our walk. The plan was to walk through all the parts of our small town, so the route was almost 20 km long. We laid stones in all possible places or gave them directly to children and adults. The initially surprising faces turned into a smile. We also visited members of our rock painting group who were unable to take part in the walk for health reasons, but who then rewarded us with food and drink.


After 4.5 hours and 12 kilometers, I decided that it was enough for me. 5 ladies and the man finished the 20 km around 9 o’clock in the evening. This run raised a donation of € 2611, which will be transferred to the aid organization for the flood victims over the next few days.
What a great day.