Tradition of setting class year into a hillside has been going on since 1945 What's up with those numbers on the hills? It is a question that countless strangers to the area have asked after driving through the valley south of Kenmare. For more than 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 the seniors select a hill, gather with shovels, trucks, and paint brushes, then get to work. An outline of their class year is staked out. Then the sod is dug out and hauling in of field stones begins. When the trenches have been completely filled with rocks, the project is finished off with a coat of whitewash or paint. For many years, Rock Day was an organized school event for seniors just before graduation. Most of the KHS class-year rock monuments have taken shape on the hillsides from seven to eleven miles south of town along Highway 52. Class years from '51 to present can be easily spotted as one cruises through the area of the Baden overpass. Years pass, but the numbers remain highly visible as the classes apply a fresh coat of paint during their reunions. The first KHS rocks took shape in 1945. The students' rock graffiti on the hillsides was initially conceived as a diversion from less desirable graffiti painted on buildings and other structures around town.