Local artist and a member of the Iowa House of Representatives Ray Sorensen recently finished his 100th Freedom Rock in Polk County. 

Sorensen says he has painted giant boulders across Iowa as patriotic murals in each of Iowa’s 99 counties and then held an auction to place the final 100th Freedom Rock with the highest bidder going to Adventureland Park in Altoona. Sorensen explains this rock marks the end to a long journey that started in 2013. 

“People, you know, have a lot of interest in those often forgotten stories. And so being able to kind of step across the state and illustrate some of those stories for everyone and then give them a place to write to and an anchor in each community or in each county. It also helps you see the rest of Iowa. There are so many great things across the state of Iowa.”

He says the 100th Freedom Rock took him eight days to complete and he wanted it to be special for Polk County. 

“I just wanted to step through some of the areas, touch on some of the veterans that are involved in Polk County, that you’ve either lived there or work there or had some ties to Polk County.”

Sorensen says his next step is to put a Freedom Rock in all 50 states and he already has a couple in Nebraska, five in Minnesota and a few in Missouri so far.