PATTERSON TWP. — Sharon Berry Dominguez probably never thought about Beaver County until she found a rock while walking her dog outside a hotel in Omaha, Neb.
More specifically, Dominguez found one of the homemade art pieces whimsically created and labeled by Beaver County Rocks, a group that paints and randomly scatters rocks for unsuspecting people to find and be amused by.
Dominguez got a kick out the rock she found with its hashtag #beavercountyrocks, posting this week on Facebook, "I am taking it home to Colorado to rehide it."
That's the spirit Beaver County Rocks hopes for, as the group plans to gear up for another round of painting and hiding.
"Everybody gets excited when they find a painted rock," said Angela Bradley, a founder of Beaver County Rocks.
The group celebrated its one-year anniversary in March. The rock hiding and finding slowed during the long winter, "though that's to be expected," Bradley said.
On May 18, the group will meet again, with everyone invited to take part by showing up at Riverview United Methodist Church, at 1099 Darlington Road in Patterson Township. Between 5 and 7 p.m., families will gather in the church basement for the free event, where they can give rocks a painted new look — with superhero figures, logos, animal caricatures, abstract designs, whatever catches the artist's fancy.
"I've still got a fairly good amount of rocks and still have some paint," Bradley said.
Though it would be helpful if someone brought more address labels and sealant spray, available from a craft store or Walmart, to preserve the paint job from the weather.
The hidden rocks are labeled with a hashtag so that the people who find them can upload photos of where they were found, before they hide them.
It's not really a game or contest.
"It's about random acts of kindness," the group's 9,180-member Facebook page says. "It's about making someone's day brighter."
You never know where a rock will end up.
"We've had them turn up in the Bahamas, and several have been found in Florida, probably ending up there because of snowbirds," Bradley said. "They're all over."
Popular local hiding places have been Bradys Run Park, the Rochester Flag Plaza and the parks on Third Street in Beaver.
"We've seen an increase in the last few weeks," Bradley said.
"I've been told people would like to see them in Hopewell, but I don't get down that way much. "
Dominguez, the Colorado resident, is eager to find her rock a hiding place two time zones away. She's not sure how it ended up in a grassy area near a shed outside a Nebraska hotel.
"My theory is a trucker found it and brought it west, as there were a few truckers who seemed to be staying at the hotel," she said. "I guess we’ll never know."
She's just glad to be part of the ongoing story.