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Kenmare North Dakota is located on US highway 52, about an hour south of the Canada/US border crossing at Portal, and half an hour or so north of Minot, ND. Kenmare itself is just a small, unremarkable town with a thousand or so residents, and you may wonder why I've made a page about it. The high school there has created something unique to celebrate each year's graduating class, which my family and I enjoyed each summer as we passed by on the way to Ontario, and again on the return journey after an extensive shopping experience in Minot, where, according to Jane, the best teacher store in all of North America was to be found. Kenmare High School has sports teams called the 'Kenmare Honkers' (Canada geese). Don't laugh; when I first moved to Worsley the sports teams were called the Worsley Wombats!! In Kenmare, every year the Grad class continues a tradition of recording the class graduation year with rocks on the rolling hills next to the highway. This tradition has been going on since 1945; the project on the hillsides was initially conceived as a diversion from less desirable graffiti painted on buildings and other structures around town. During the past 60 years, all but a few of the graduating classes of Kenmare High School have left their mark for posterity on the hillsides.  
Each spring on 'Rock Day', the Grads select a hill, gather with shovels, trucks, and paint brushes, and get to work. An outline of their class year is staked out. Then the sod is dug out, and they begin hauling in field stones. When the trenches have been completely filled with rocks, the rocks are painted with a coat of whitewash. 
 Class years from 1951 through the current year are easily visible as you drive through the valley. Over time, some class years have become overgrown and faded, but many have been refurbished as the classes apply a fresh coat of paint during their reunions. Every year we looked forward to spotting years we had missed. 
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