In early April, 2013, Ray (Bubba) Sorensen of Greenfield, Iowa, painted The Freedom Rock in Rolfe, Iowa. His original and much larger Freedom Rock is located outside of Greenfield, Iowa.
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In the three video clips below, Ray explains many facets related to his Freedom Rock Tour. Eventually there will be one of Ray’s Freedom Rocks in each of Iowa’s ninety-nine counties.
The photos at the end of this post show before, during and after the painting of Rolfe’s rock.
While Rolfe’s rock is located on private property at the residence of Dan and Mary Allen, people are encouraged to stop and take a close-up view of the rock as they travel through Rolfe on Highway 15. There’s also an 11.5-foot-tall statue of Cy (Iowa State’s mascot) across the driveway from the rock. (The statue was made by my dad and stood at the north end of ISU’s football field from 1975 until the mid-’90s.) Both the rock and statue provide memorable photo-ops. And, of course, the rock conjures sobering reminders of the freedoms we enjoy due to our veterans’ noble service to our country.
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How to Enlarge Photos in this Post
To magnify the thumbnail images (below), click on one of them. The images may then be viewed as a slide show by clicking on the arrow to the right or left of each image.
To magnify the images even further, at the bottom of the slide show view, click on “View full size.” If your cursor is a “+” sign when over an enlarged image, you can magnify even more by clicking again on the image.
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- South side of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock before it was painted (photo courtesy of Maria Sorensen)
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- 4/09/13 Sketch of south side of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock before it was painted
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- South (and east) side of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock before it was painted (photo courtesy of Maria Sorensen)
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- 4/09/13 Sketch of north side of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock before it was painted
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- 4/09/13 Ray (Bubba) Sorensen worked inside this tent as he painted Rolfe’s Freedom Rock
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- 4/09/13 Ray (Bubba) Sorensen
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- 4/09/13 Ray (Bubba) Sorensen
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- 4/09/13 North side of Rolfe’s Freedom rock, painting in progress
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- 4/09/13 North side of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock, painting in progress
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- 4/09/13 Ray Sorensen inside tent while painting north side of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock
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- 4/09/13 Valspar donates the paint for the Freedom Rocks painted by Ray Sorensen
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- 4/09/13 Freedom Rock paint donated by Valspar
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- 4/09/13 500 Freedom Rock license plate applications are necessary for the plates to become a reality
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- 4/09/13 Freedom Rock license plates application, available at http://www.thefreedomrock.com . Ray hopes to obtain the 500-minimum required applications by the end of the summer.
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- 4/09/13 Southwest edge of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock
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- 4/09/13
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- 4/09/13 West side of Freedom Rock at southwest corner
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- 4/09/13
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- 4/21/13 South side of Rolfe’s Freedom Rock
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- 4/21/13
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- 4/21/13 North side
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- 4/21/13 This flag pole and eagle are at the same location as Rolfe’s Freedom Rock. As the wind blows, so does the eagle move in a circle.
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- 4/21/13 South side
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- 4/21/13 Southeast side
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- 4/21/13 Looking east toward flag on grain elevator
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- 4/21/13 North side
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- 4/21/13 Looking south/southeast
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- 4/21/13 Bubba’s signature
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- 4/21/13 The eagle motif is repeated in this Bud Barn sign on the same property as The Freedom Rock.
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- 5/25/13
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In December, 2012, I posted about the first Freedom Rock painted by Ray Sorensen. That post is here.
The initial Freedom Rock is just outside of Greenfield, Iowa. It is quite large. Every year Ray repaints this initial Freedom Rock with different designs. More information about it and the locations of the smaller Freedom Rocks in various Iowa counties is here. Will Rolfe’s rock be in Bubba’s 2014 calendar? Time will tell!
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Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter) 