Butler County Freedom Rock

This painted boulder belongs to the Iowa Freedom Rock Tour, a folk-art tribute to veterans that grew from one young man's idea. In nineteen ninety-nine, a young man from Greenfield named Ray Sorensen, called Bubba, was moved by the film Saving Private Ryan and painted a rock with patriotic scenes for Memorial Day. He repainted it every year after.

In twenty thirteen he launched a tour to paint one Freedom Rock in each of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. Every rock is unique, honoring veterans and heroes. This is the rock for Butler County. He completed all ninety-nine by twenty twenty-one. What started as a single boulder became a statewide chain of memorials, hand-painted county by county.