Using their cooking skills like a big lever, the ladies of the Dallas Center American Legion Auxiliary joined forces Saturday to help lift the $18,000 fundraising burden of the Dallas County Freedom Rock.
Along with a first-rate soup-and-sandwich luncheon, donors enjoyed scrumptious desserts from the Perry-based bakery Tammy Cakes in the Dallas Center Memorial Hall.
The Elevator Bake Sale — named for the conveyance connecting the upper and lower floors of the Dallas Center Memorial Hall — offered further dainties downstairs, with a dizzying variety of breads, pies, cakes, cookies, bars, brittles, fudges and much more.
All baked goods were donated by members of the Auxiliary and were sold or auctioned to help raise the money needed to complete the landscaping and memorial at the Dallas County Freedom Rock site.
Wilma York, chair of the Dallas Center American Legion Auxiliary, said the Dallas County Freedom Rock “is a tribute to the sacrifices our local veterans have made to protect our freedoms and also an important new attraction we can all be proud of.”
The Dallas County Freedom Rock is situated in Minburn, just off U.S. Highway 169 and south of the Minburn Depot. The patriotic monument is easily accessible from the Raccoon River Valley Bike Trail and can easily be seen by highway traffic.
The 25-ton, seven-foot-tall rock, donated by Dennis Allen of Herndon, is scheduled to be painted by Iowa artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen in 2019. He painted the first Freedom Rock in 1999 in Greenfield and has been working since to complete a rock in each of Iowa’s 99 counties.
To assist with the project or for more information, call Larry Cornelison at 515-556-8339. Donations may be sent to Dallas County Freedom Rock, P.O. Box 173, Minburn, lA 50167.
