ESTEVAN - It started as a fun community effort in Estevan in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and has grown to include the work of many other people.
Brae and Maddyn Wolensky created a rock snake beside the walking path on Rooney Road. It started out with 21 painted rocks but grew to hundreds by the end of that summer.
In an email to the Mercury and Â鶹ÊÓƵ, the girls' mother Kaylyn Wolensky said the snake grew much quicker than they expected, as people were eager to add their own painted rocks to the collection.
The rocks were then kept at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum for display during the winter of 2021-22. The following summer, Brae and Maddyn thought the rock snake would run out of room, so they decided to split it into three: one to remain on Rooney Road, another for a walking path on Hawkes Bay, and the third for the pathways at Woodlawn Regional Park. At one point the total number of rocks exceeded 1,000.
But they didn’t see much growth in the two new areas and the Woodlawn snake was vandalized last year when someone chucked all of the rocks around, so they opted to return all rocks to their original location, which Kaylyn said is close to their home, allowing them to watch its growth.
The Wolensky girls want to get the rock snake growing again. With the help of the community, it is currently at 771 rocks. They have somewhat split up the snake further down the path to a retaining wall, giving it more room for growth.
Kaylyn believes her daughters painted only about 30 of the rocks.
"It provides many smiles and excitement for the girls and they hope it can do the same for people who visit the snake," she said. "Their goal for summer 2024 is for the rock snake to make it back up to 1,000 rocks."
When they started it a few years ago, Brae and Madden never imagined it would grow so long. They thought a few people would paint rocks in that first summer to create something for the community.
"It brings a smile to your face when you walk by, and it's cool to look at the different rocks and add to it, and feel like you're participating in something," Kaylyn said.
