Over the last several weeks, local residents may have noticed into small, painted rocks while shopping downtown.

Or while taking a leisurely stroll through Farr Park. Or while visiting the pow wow on Rodgers Lake.

The stones, which are decorated with designs ranging from the red, white and blue of Old Glory to sporting inspirational phrases like “run until you fly,” have been putting smiles on the faces of young and old alike who stumble across them.

The “Dowagiac Rocks” project has even begun to take on a life of its own — much to the joy of Dowagiac’s Mary Ellen Wilson and Anna Williams, a pair of neighbors who got the rock rolling earlier this summer.

“We’re starting to see other painted rocks around town now, not just ours,” Wilson said. “They’re catching on.”

Wilson and Williams, who live across the street from one another on Twin Lakes, began painting and placing the playful pebbles around the community near the beginning of August, they said. Wilson came up with the idea after she attended her family’s last reunion, where her sister, Eileen Kennedy, began hiding painted rocks across the various locations the family members stopped, Wilson said. Her sister had already started placing stones around her hometown in Florida.

The idea of lifting the spirits of the community by planting decorative stones comes from The Kindness Rocks project, a national initiative that encourages people to pick up a paintbrush and “rock” their own hometowns.

Wilson enlisted the help of her friend, who, after purchasing 90 pounds of smooth river rocks from a hardware store located Auburn, Indiana, set up makeshift studios in their garages. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, from their husbands’ favorite sports teams to designs they saw on the internet, the two women set to work to create stony masterpieces of their own.

They did not let their lack of artistic experience get in their way, either.

“I could only do stickmen before I started doing this,” Williams said.

The pair started placing by their finished rocks across Front Street, including planting some during the downtown car show. They have expanded from there, placing their rocks as far out as the Pokagon Band’s property on Sink Road during the Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow earlier this month.

At the bottom of each rock is note asking people to post of a photo of themselves holding the stone and to share it on the group’s Facebook page, “Dowagiac Michigan Rocks,” before replanting it somewhere else around town. However, people who find the rocks are welcome to keep them, especially if the message or design really resonates with them, the women said.

“It doesn’t bother us what people do with them, as long as they don’t end up in the garbage,” Wilson said.

Thankfully, their neighbors don’t seem to be interested in trashing their creations, judging by the response their project has received. In spite of only being active for a little more than a month, the Dowagiac Michigan Rocks Facebook page has more than 160 members, and has daily posts of people sharing photos of the stones they have found as well as the spots in the town they intend to “rock” next.

“It’s amazing,” Williams said about the growth of the project. “I’m happy more people are jumping in.”

People interested in joining the Dowagiac Michigan Rocks Facebook page may do so by visiting bit.ly/2vO6s1W.