Three to be honored at Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival Tribute to Heroes Dinner

CEDAR RAPIDS - Their service to the community varies, but all three of the men being honored at this year's Freedom Festival Tribute to Heroes Dinner have made an impact on Cedar Rapids.

Classic KMRY radio host Ricky Bartlett, Mayor Ron Corbett and historian Mark Stoffer Hunter are the honorees at this year's dinner, which takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center, 7725 Kirkwood Blvd. SW. Tickets are $30 each or $250 for a table of 10 and must be purchased by Monday at freedomfestival.com.

The event - which kicks off the annual Freedom Festival - includes live music, a silent auction and a meal, during which the stories of the heroes will be shared. The keynote speaker is Cedar Rapids City Council member Susie Weinacht.

'We honor everyday heroes,” said Liz Neff, events and marketing director for Freedom Festival. 'They are honored for the passion, time and care that they put into our community. It is very heartwarming. It makes you feel good about the community.”

Here is a closer look at each of this year's heroes, who were nominated by area residents and chosen by the Freedom Festival board of directors.

Ricky Bartlett

If you tune in to Classic KMRY on your radio during the midmorning hours, you'll hear the southern charm of radio host Ricky Bartlett, a Georgia native who has lived in Iowa since 2005 with his wife Jennifer and daughter Jaclyn.

He was nominated anonymously and said he is shocked to be among those honored.

'I don't feel like I deserve it,” Bartlett said. 'There are so many people who I feel deserve it like our military, fire department, police ... anyone but a radio host.”

Bartlett was nominated for keeping a positive attitude and giving back even after losing a leg to illness in 2014.

'I went to the hospital sick as a dog, passed out in the hospital and woke up with no leg. I didn't know they were going to take it,” Bartlett said. 'I was determined that it wasn't going to affect me. It's been one of those things where I tell anyone who has a disability to get off the couch and understand that you're still blessed to have the opportunity live in this time and era when we have everything at our disposal.”

Bartlett serves as an Amputee Peer Advocate through Hanger Clinic, in which he goes out to talk with people who are about to get an amputation or already have had one and are struggling with it. Barlett also volunteers with the nonprofit organization SportAbility of Iowa and is an avid sled-hockey and cycling athlete.

Mayor Ron Corbett

Following the devastating 2008 flood, Ron Corbett made the decision to run for mayor.

'I just saw so much pain in the community from the residents that were struggling, trying to figure out if they could rebuild or should rebuild, people that needed to find new housing, businesses that were teetering on the brink of closing,” Corbett said. 'My heart really went out to the people in the community of Cedar Rapids and I felt like I wanted to jump in and start making decisions and rebuilding our community.”

Corbett credited the entire community for a heroic post-flood effort to rebuild.

'It's been a great community effort since 2008. To deal with the recovery and the rebuilding, it just shows a tremendous amount of resiliency that Cedar Rapids has,” he said. 'And that resilience was on full display last September of 2016 when we were faced with the second highest crest in the history of our community, to see not just thousands of people come out but tens of thousands of people come out to save the city in what I think is our community's most finest moment.”

Corbett said community pride has been restored.

'In 2008 many people thought maybe our best days were behind us and were really doubting what the future of our community was going to be.”

Mark Stoffer Hunter

His passion for history started at age 12 and since then, Mark Stoffer Hunter, The History Center's research historian, has dedicated his life to learning and educating others about Cedar Rapids' history.

As a youngster, he recalls being in a car downtown as a train slowly moved by and watching the Taft Hotel on Second Avenue being torn down. He didn't understand why it was being torn down and from there his curiosity of the city took off.

'It's been a lifelong passion of mine. I've been fortunate enough to work in the field that I love so much here locally,” Stoffer Hunter said. 'One thing I saw a need for when I started this as a teenager was that there was this amazing history I'd discovered about Cedar Rapids that was not being educated to the public.”

One way that Stoffer Hunter shares his knowledge of Cedar Rapids is through the walking tours he leads around various parts of the city.

'By me being a history tour guide, I can get people into areas they may not know a lot about,” Stoffer Hunter said. 'Sometimes the hardest thing to do is be a tourist in your town. It can be really fascinating to learn about where you're living and what's happened here.”

Stoffer Hunter aims to show people through his work that the history of a place is relevant to society today.

'The passion of what I do with my history is show people that history isn't just a bunch of dusty, old artifacts and details, it's relevant to our 21st century lives,” he said.

l Comments: (319) 368-8538; elianna.novitch@thegazette.com