# FreedomWalk2026. Tony planned to retrace his footsteps from 30 years earlier— but this time with the magnificent sculpture in tow. Harriet would be permanently mounted to a trailer where she would celebrate history at new locations daily, along with Tony’ s profound question for a new generation:“ What kind of America do we envision in the next 250 years?”
I was enthralled. It’ s one thing to park Harriet somewhere and wait for people to come. It’ s quite another to make her mobile and transport her directly to the masses. I instantly imagined hordes of well-wishers gathering to see Harriet and meet Tony, now age 62, at every stop along the way. I thought financial resources— to cover food, fuel, lodging, and dozens of other incidental expenses— would be easy to acquire.
“ Yes!” I said emphatically.“ Of course I’ ll help.”
LITTLE MORE THAN FOUR months after that aspirational first meeting, all sorts of realities were hitting at once. Some involved fundraising. Many of the corporate sponsors we imagined for # FreedomWalk2026 had already committed their money elsewhere by the time we asked for their support. Lack of major funding, in turn, limited promotional options. Those crowds we envisioned would depend almost completely on social media and word of mouth.
Then there were the pesky logistics. A man walking is one thing; moving Harriett to disparate locations required the right heavy-duty truck and an experienced operator to pull a long trailer carrying precious cargo.
By April 30, just four days from the official start of Tony’ s walk to Canada, I was quietly riddled with doubt about reaching my lofty
goals. I was worried about disappointing my friend. I was also driving Harriet. Literally. And that’ s when the thumping began.
At about 5 p. m., less than a mile outside of Poolesville, I didn’ t know what to make of that sound at first … so I eased up on the gas pedal, but kept moving. We had scheduled a # FreedomWalk2026 kickoff rally at Riverworks for 6 p. m., and I promised co-founder Sandy Wright an early arrival for set up. As White’ s Ferry Road veered 90 degrees to the left and soon became Fisher Avenue, I thought the issue might be with the truck, a cherry red GMC 2500 borrowed on a moment’ s notice from our generous friend, Bobby Srour, of Potomac. By the time I reached the House of Poolesville, I picked up the scent of burning rubber and figured Bobby’ s brakes might be mis-calibrated to the trailer. Passing Sandy and David Theriault’ s
At left, Arianna Ross and her daughter, Anna Julia, re-enact the“ Harriet pose.” Above, historian Tony Cohen( top) celebrates with Link Hoewing, Jeff Sypeck, Alex Markoff, Cathy Matthews, Sandy Wright, Cathy Pickar, Valaree Dickerson, Tara Middleton, Del. Lily Qi, Kathleen Siedor, and Del. David Fraser-Hidalgo( kneeling). plenty I autumn harvest 2026 25