By Shelby Stewart
Staff Wrtier
Rock on Ortonville.
Crossman Park in Ortonville will soon be getting a Kindness Rock Garden, as unanimously approved by the village council and created by the DDA.
“We have everything ready to go moving forward,” said DDA representative Courtney McClerren. “You’ve probably seen some of them around town.”
The concept was started by a woman who had lost her parents and was looking for a sign that they were okay, then saw a painted rock that made her smile. The idea behind the painted rocks is to spread joy and kindness.

The rocks can already be found throughout the village, and the idea is after finding one, hide it somewhere else for another person to find.
“It’s all about making people smile, encouraging kind words, being kind to each other,” said McClerren. “The central idea of this garden is to have a central place where people can find these rocks, and words of encouragement, words of comfort, different things like that.”
The rocks can be moved from the rock garden, and also placed there. On the backs of them, there is a message about where they’re from. It also encourages people who find them to visit the ‘Ortonville Michigan Rocks!’ facebook group to post a picture of the found rock before rehiding it.
The painted rock garden will also have a bench and bird houses, as well as larger rocks that will be permanent.
“It teaches kids to give without expecting anything back,” said Judi Kwasnik, who has been working with the DDA on the project.