Gulfport welcome center sign with rock — Can you spot the rogue rock? Over this past week unexpecting Gulfport pedestrians have been finding painted rocks that bring smiles and leave inspiring messages to those who happen to be in the right place at the right time. “I was bored and I had some paint. I thought this would be a good way to bring smiles to people’s faces,” said rock decorator EJ Simons. Photo by Laura Mulrooney.

It looks like we have a rebel rock star in town.

Over the last week unexpecting Gulfport pedestrians have been finding painted rocks that bring smiles and leave inspiring messages to those who happen to be in the right place at the right time.

“I’m having so much!” said rock decorator EJ Simons. “I’m not an artist; I just painted some rocks, now I’ve gone crazy with it.”

Originally, Simons placed 30 painted rocks all over downtown Gulfport.

“I recently went to all my spots and they’re just about all gone,” said Simons. “That makes me so happy, I want people to take them and I hope they bring smiles to people’s faces.”

But wait! There’s more… Starting this week several of the rocks will hold a surprise for a lucky few.

“On the back of a couple of the rocks there will be directions to follow,” explained Simons. “If they follow the directions there will be a free gift to retrieve from a couple of businesses around town.”

Simons continued: “This has been a really, really hard time for a lot of people, maybe someone will pick up the rocks that haven’t been to the businesses before and that’ll help those folks out too.”

In addition to the “business rocks” there will be two “magical rocks” placed at a later date, a “his” and a “hers.”

“Follow the directions on the back and you’ll get something special,” said Simons.

Last but not least of Simons’ plans there will be a multi-rock challenge.

“Keep your eyes peeled for the eye rocks,” hinted Simons. “Collect all seven and I’ll buy that person or team a pizza from Siri’s.”

Once the rocks are found, Simons encourages the lucky recipients to take a picture with their rock and post it to The Gabber Newspaper Facebook page with the hashtag #gulfportFLrocks.

Be on the lookout this week for EJ Simons’ new wave of rocks. “On the back of a couple of the rocks there will be directions to follow,” explained Simons. “If they follow the directions there will be a free gift to retrieve from a couple of businesses around town.”

Rocks decorated by EJ Simons — Over this past week unexpecting Gulfport pedestrians have been finding painted rocks that bring smiles and leave inspiring messages to those who happen to be in the right place at the right time. “I was bored and I had some paint. I thought this would be a good way to bring smiles to people’s faces,” said rock decorator EJ Simons. Photo by EJ Simons.

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