(Red Oak) The Freedom Rock is on now display at the Fountain Square Park in Red Oak. This is number 95 for artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen, who began his quest to paint a Freedom Rock in all of Iowa’s 99 counties.
Sorensen’s designs his murals on specific stories relative to each county. The mural features the Red Oak Victory Ship, the World War II Villisca Red Bull Unit, to pay homage to those soldiers, and ended on a rural theme.
Sorensen admits every county in Iowa is the same but different. He says Montgomery County has many things that make it unique and brought up the Red Oak Victory Ship.
Sorensen says one of the neat things about his tour of counties is getting to dig through the military history and the history of the different communities embedded within a particular county.
In 1999, Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II set out to paint “The Freedom Rock,” a 60 ton-plus boulder in Adair County. In 2008, Ray and his wife started a mural painting business and began mapping out a plan to paint “Freedom Rocks” in all 99-counties. His tour began in 2013. Today, four counties remain on his journey. Montgomery County was the only county left west of Des Moines. The final four are located on the eastern seaboard of Iowa.
(Photo courtesy of Ray Sorensen II)
