Rock & Roll Your Way to the Fall Festival

Castro Valley is indeed rocking as Fall Festival approaches, though not in the way music fans might expect. Rockhounds, though, are delighted.

And there is rock-and-roll on the menu, with the rocks around town paired with the rolls coming from the new sushi restaurant Akemi in the Castro Valley Marketplace.

A group called “Castro Valley Rocks” has paired discovering brightly painted rocks hidden around town, a pastime that became popular during the pandemic, with the reward of sushi rolls from Akemi in a weekly drawing.

The rocks were the brainchild of Castro Valley’s Kathi Sinley some seven years ago when she and her family started leaving painted rocks around and encouraging friends and neighbors to post them on Facebook when they were found. At first, just a few people were involved.

Then Sinley was interviewed in a different newspaper here in 2017, and people started posting items on Facebook.

“I was only going to do it for a couple of weeks, but then there was the newspaper article and social media reposts got around, and the community really got involved,” Sinley said.

This year, the Castro Valley & Eden Area Chamber of Commerce joined in, using the rock hunt to build momentum for its big Fall Festival. That returns for its 50th-anniversary celebration September 10-11, after two years off for COVID.

“People can get involved by taking a picture and posting it, by moving it to a new place, or by painting a new rock,” said Janella Anguiano of the Chamber.

The rocks are done in Fall Festival and sushi themes but bear no identification beyond “Castro Valley Rocks.” Though, there is one bearing an entire painted mini-menu from Akemi, which would count as sushi-themed.

People finding them are asked to photograph them where they found them, post a picture to either of two Facebook accounts and then move them to a different location so they can be found again. After the Fall Festival, though, people can keep whatever rocks they find.

Those two Facebook accounts are @CastroValleyRocks and @CVfallfestival.

Every Friday at 5 p.m. up until the festival, a drawing is held from among recent posts for a $20 gift certificate at Akemi.

“You can certainly paint your own rock and leave it somewhere,” Sinley said. “Just be sure to use only watercolor or acrylic paint so any curious wildlife isn’t harmed.”