Rocking It at Kingsport Carousel
At the Kingsport Farmers Market Kick-Off event on May 5th, #kingsportrocks volunteers will invite shoppers to join them in decorating a rock for a garden, hiding or sharing.
Started as a way to spread fun and goodwill, the #kingsportrocks project, encourages participants to take and replace the rocks they find or hide the rocks elsewhere. One rock found locally was recently replanted in Taiwan. At the Kingsport Rock Garden, there are rocks decorated by people from across the country as well rocks decorated by people of all ages, from 2 year olds to 83 year olds. The rock painting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and is free and open to the public.
The Kingsport Carousel got its own Carousel Rock Garden this past Earth Day. To celebrate Earth Day, the scouts in the Bear and Webelo Dens of Pack 54 “planted” decorated rocks in and around the Carousel Rock Garden. The painted rocks are decorated with words of encouragement or inspiration, a cute drawing, a funny saying or a display of art genius.
“Looking for a community project to do, both the Webelo and the Bear Dens agreed that decorating and planting rocks would not only be a fun project, but it would result in something special for the City of Kingsport,” said Bonnie Macdonald.
Although the renewal of the rock garden is the most recent embellishment to the carousel site, the carousel grounds will soon be home to new, play equipment and picnic tables. The carousel also has another project in the works that will eventually result in a book about the carousel animals, which will be sold at the carousel gift shop and Bear and Friends.
For more information, please visit EngageKingsport.com, the Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts Facebook page or call 423-392-8414.