Ray “Bubba” Sorensen painting the Washington County Freedom Rock on June 12th. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

As you drive past the corner of Highways 1 and 78 in Brighton this week, you might notice some activity where BJ’s Stop Off used to be.

Artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II of Greenfield is spending this week painting the Washington County Freedom Rock which will remain at that location for visitors to get a glimpse of the history of the county and its armed forces veterans. This is the 72nd Freedom Rock Sorensen has painted, with the goal of painting a rock in all 99 Iowa counties.

Sorensen describes some of the aspects of this Freedom Rock, “Well, since it’s Washington County I thought I’d use George Washington on the front side and a lot of my murals on rocks have flags over the top of them so that’s going to be a very dominant part of it. And then around the back side there are a couple Revolutionary War soldiers that are buried here in the county and so I thought I’d represent them with a silhouette. And then as it kind of moves around the mural, Ding Darling was a cartoonist and the lake’s named for him so I’m going to use his cartoon of Teddy Roosevelt.”

Sorensen adds the mural will also include a depiction honoring Brighton resident Craig Rich, who was a casualty of the Vietnam War. There will be a dedication ceremony for the Washington County Freedom Rock and a laying of a wreath in honor of Rich at 5:30 p.m. Saturday during Brighton Whoopee Days.