How Roxy the rock snake is slithering into Prince George hearts and helping its creator through tough times

Her name is Roxy.

She's a snake made of hand-painted rocks, and she can be found at Cottonwood Island Park in Prince George, B.C.

Last week, Roxy hit a milestone, so to speak — she reached 1,000 rocks in length, and then kept growing.

Roxy has been capturing the imagination of people in Prince George — and far beyond — who have been answering creator Sharon Yon's invitation to add their own rocks to see how long the colourful serpent can ultimately stretch.

Watching Roxy grow day by day has also been good for Yon's soul, she says. For her, it's a reason to smile as she helps her 39-year-old son, Jeremy, through a battle with cancer.

"It just makes my heart so fuzzy and warm," said Yon, who began the rock snake in the middle of June.

"I see all these people and these little kids and they're just loving it, and elderly people come down from their care centres and they lay rocks. To me, it's like everybody is leaving a little piece of themselves on Roxy."

Idea sprang from fundraising walk

Yon lives in Campbell River, B.C., but joined Jeremy at his home in Prince George last July when she learned that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in plasma blood cells.

In May, Yon participated in a fundraising walk for Prince George's Rotary Hospice House. While walking at Cottonwood Island Park, she says she noticed little painted rocks scattered all over the place for people to take.

That inspired Yon to start painting and scattering her own rocks. She says she placed more than 300 of them at Cottonwood Island, and says people then started telling her she should do a rock snake.

After finding out online that no one else in Prince George had started one, Yon got to work.

She found a rock in the rough shape of a snake's head along the riverbank at Cottonwood Island and took it home.

She and Jeremy — a tattoo artist — painted it green, gave it a smile, a red cloth tongue and some googly eyes. Yon then took it back down to Cottonwood on June 15 and placed it on the edge of the parking lot, together with a sign inviting people to add painted rocks to the snake.

When Yon returned the next day, she was delighted to see four rocks had already been added behind Roxy's head.

"I did the happy dance, and now she's, like, wrapping around the park and continuing to wrap," Yon said, her voice shaking.

Yon checks on Roxy pretty much every day. One one occasion, she was worried when she saw some City of Prince George workers eyeing up the ever-expanding rock snake. But Yon says the workers assured her they weren't there to dismantle Roxy. Instead, she says they told her they'd do their best to keep watch over the public art project.

Interest beyond Prince George

By the middle of last week, Roxy's rock count was 1,072 and her estimated length was more than 62 metres.

And the rocks haven't just been coming from Prince George. Yon says a woman from Ontario sent her one, and she's expecting a boxful from a woman in Duncan, B.C.

Roxy has her own Facebook page, which is helping to spread the word.

Prince George resident Gwenda Gobbi and two of her grandchildren stopped by the park to see Roxy on Thursday.

"I love it. It's a great project for grandchildren — simple, fun," said Gobbi, who adds that she's happy but not surprised by the response Roxy is generating.

"This is what Prince George is all about. We do these things."

Yon says she feels "blessed" that Roxy is connecting so strongly with people. And seeing Roxy grow from those first few stones, to more than 1,000 now, brings out her emotions. 

"I think a lot of it has to do with … the reason I'm here," she said. "I'm caring for my son and I need to give back, and this is one way that I can give back. Now all the community's giving back as well and it's just amazing."

Yon says Jeremy is doing well, and is a big Roxy fan.

"He loves her too," Yon said. "He encouraged me right from the get-go when I was getting all the messages to start her."