New Brunswick·NewHappiness Rocks Moncton, a Facebook group, has about 5,000 people who paint and hide rocks around the Moncton area to make others smile. The rocks have also ended up in different cities and sometimes even abroad.New Brunswickers paint and hide rocks to bring smiles to facesRhythm Rathi · CBC News · Posted: Oct 13, 2025 6:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 13 minutes agoMoncton’s Lynn Kelly hid Halloween-themed rocks around Centennial Park on Thanksgiving Day. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)Lynn Kelly spent part of her Thanksgiving in Moncton’s Centennial Park enjoying her new retirement hobby.The Moncton woman hid some brightly painted Halloween-themed rocks in random spots in the west-end park in hopes they’d bring a smile to someone’s face.Within a few minutes, one of the rocks was gone. Kelly said she may or may not find out where it ended up, but that’s part of the fun for her.”Not all people will … tell you that they found them — some do, some don’t, some keep them, some re-hide them.”Some examples of Kelly’s rock artwork. (Lynn Kelly)Kelly is part of a Facebook group called Happiness Rocks Moncton. The group has about 5,000 members who paint and hide rocks around the area for the simple pleasure of making someone’s day when they find them.”I’ve had two posts on that page saying they took them back to France, so that’s very interesting,” she said. “And I had another lady message and said her mother was visiting from Morocco and found one in Centennial Park. I’m like, wow, that’s pretty cool.”Tracey Vail of Lower Coverdale, N.B., and a friend started the group in 2017.Vail said it was an inexpensive way to spread joy and she’s enjoyed reading the stories people have shared on the Facebook page.”I do see a lot of people that post on the group saying that they were having a really bad day … and then they saw this rock and it cheered them up, you know, that made them see that things can be better,” she said.Vail said she has hidden thousands of rocks in the last eight years but has only found a few hidden by other members.Tracey Vail and her son, Arlo Vail, are painting rocks to give to residents at a local nursing home. (Rhythm Rathi/CBC)She still has the first painted rock she found. Now her three-year-old son, Arlo Vail, has begun painting some to give to residents at a local nursing home.Kelly admits she was a novice when she joined the group.”When I started, I mean, I can’t draw a stick man straight and I’m like, I’ll never be able to do this,” she said. “But after you get going, I find it very satisfying, rewarding, something that keeps me busy.” She has hidden many rocks in the Moncton area, but also in Sackville and parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.Kelly says she has also hidden some rocks in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. (Lynn Kelly)She recently contributed a couple of rocks to “Rocky the snake,” started by Liam Mackley, a five-year-old from Dieppe.His father Chris Mackley said Liam saw a similar snake at the Irishtown Nature Park and wanted to start his own in their yard.”I put it up on Facebook and … the rocks just started coming,” Mackley said.”Six rocks, I believe, was the beginning, and when we put him away to hibernate for the winter, there was 153.”Chris Mackley says his son Liam wants to keep Rocky the snake growing again next year. (Chris Mackley)He said he hadn’t expected such a response and initially planned to paint a rock himself every second day to keep Liam cheered up.”I didn’t realize how popular painting rocks were,” he said.ABOUT THE AUTHORRhythm Rathi is a reporter with CBC New Brunswick in Moncton. He was born and raised in India, and attended journalism school in Ontario. Send your story tips to rhythm.rathi@cbc.ca
Have you found a decorated rock yet? Maybe it was put there for you
