Your ticket to a week of events this summer!
Freedom Festival Buttons
2026 Button Design
Design By: Duane Schoepske
Button Q&A
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You can purchase a Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival Button at the following locations:
Freedom Festival Office
Gate Entrance at Freedom Festival Produced Events
Freedom Festival website
NEW! Virtual button option available for 2026!
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Freedom Festival buttons are $10.00 a piece.
Thanks to our generous sponsor, Farmers State Bank, we are proud to offer FREE buttons for all veterans! If you’re a veteran, stop by our office or pick up your free button at one of our events.
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Children ages 5 and under are not required to have a button at any buttoned events.
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Drone Show
DockDogs
Pancake Breakfast $5 discount
Yoga on the Island
Rock N Bowl
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Each year, we ask the community to help us design our button for that year’s Festival. The Button Design Contest is open to the public and you do not have to be a professional to participate!
Buttons for Veterans
Thanks to our generous sponsor, Farmers State Bank, we are proud to offer FREE buttons for all veterans!
If you are a veteran, please stop by the Freedom Festival office to pick up yours or catch us at an event this summer! While this is just a small token of our appreciation, we are thankful for the men and women who fight for our county.
Bulk Button Buy
Buy More, Save More with Freedom Festival Buttons!
Planning to attend with friends or family? Take advantage of our exclusive bulk promotion—buy 10 buttons, get 1 FREE!
Perfect for groups, organizations, or anyone looking to celebrate all week long.
Interested in purchasing in bulk? Email us at info@freedomfestival.com to get started!
Freedom Festival Buttons: A Tradition since 1988!
The Button Beginning:
The Freedom Festival has a long history of producing unique, and one-of-a-kind buttons! The tradition started in 1988 where the first button was introduced and was on sale for $1. The concept was that buttons were encouraged to be worn each June/July to show your support to the Freedom Festival, a sense of pride in our community, and also act as a fundraiser to help pay for the events during that year’s festival.
Through the Years:
Over time, the button grew into a collectible with many long-time festival-goers collecting buttons from different years. The design process itself became a community event with an annual button design contest open to artists of all experience. The winning entry becomes the official button for that year. The contest helps the button remain fresh, creative and meaningful to the community. Throughout the years, the contest has allowed community artists to share their talend with the festival and see their design all around town throughout the summer!
The Button Today:
As the festival has expanded from a one-day event into a multi-day, city-wide celebration with dozens of events, the button’s meaning has grown. Today, the button isn’t just a ticket, its nostalgic, symbolic, and something many locals collect to mark years of memories at the Freedom Festival celebrations. Now for just $10.00, you can gain access to a week full of events!
The Freedom Festival button remains a staple in the community each summer! As originally intended, the button remains the “ticket” or “entry pass” to many of the festival’s events. In recent years, the button allows entry to events including:
Drone Show
DockDogs
Yoga on the Island
AND a discount at the Pancake Breakfast!
The button has become more than just a ticket. Over the decades, it has turned into:
A symbol of community and pride: wearing it shows the support for the festival’s mission of community celebration
A keepsake & collectible: many people purchase a new one each year simply to build a collection
A fundraising backbone: button sales remain a major source of funding, helping cover expenses for each festival
A bridge between festival and local businesses: thanks to partnerships, our buttons now come with coupon books to local businesses!
1988 through 2026
