Meet Noodles, the rainy day activity that became a community art project in Belvidere

What started as a Belvidere grandmother's rainy day activity for her six grandkids has turned into a community art project in the 400 block of West Jackson Street.

Debbie Weslow, 56, who has lived in Belvidere for 23 years with her husband, David, said she had seen the idea for a painted rock snake about a year ago via Pinterest and Facebook. She was reminded of it during a recent visit to the Ida Public Library for reptile day with her 4-year-old grandaughter, Amelia Hack.

"She had her hands all over the Burmese Python," Weslow said. "She loved him. And I'm like, well, 'You know what? Let's just make Noodles.'"

With the grandkids spending much of their time over at her Jackson Street house this summer, it was the perfect time to start painting some landscaping rocks from the yard. Soon, "Noodles the Snake" was born with Weslow's grandkids and some of their neighborhood friends painting a rock or two.

They Googled common snake names and they agreed on "Noodles" by consensus. At the suggestion of her son, Weslow posted a picture of Noodles to the What's Happening in Belvidere Facebook page and invited others to add on to the rock snake. Noodles was only about a dozen rocks long at the time.

"We went from like 12 or 15 rocks, up to 46 the next day," Weslow said. "And then the following day we had 60 or so. And we've slowly gotten another 10 to 12 more."

Weslow estimates more than 50 people have contributed to Noodles, who was 89 rocks long on Monday. The rocks are of all different shapes and sizes, and they're all painted differently, too. Some are simple, and some are tiny works of art.

Someone provided a tail that matched the color of Noodles' head.

There are rocks with beautifully painted flowers, bright red lady bugs and a yellow bee and a yellow Pikachu. There were flag rocks including ones that resembled the flags of the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom. And others had little messages like "Hope," "Love," and "Smile."

Plans are to leave Noodles in place for the summer. Anyone who wants can paint a rock and add it to Noodles. Some of the rocks will be kept as mementos, while most will be hidden along area hiking trails for others to find, keep or re-hide.

"This was just kind of a spontaneous thing, but it was an idea that I was keeping in the back of my head for something to do if we we needed to," Weslow said. "There's just days where it's raining and you need something to keep them occupied."

Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on X @jeffkolkey.