In 2012, Anderson artist Levi Rinker wanted to give back to his community.  He created more than two dozen steel “walking men” to inspire a feeling of progress and moving forward in Anderson, with the idea that each could be sponsored by local businesses and decorated by employees, students, or community members, then placed in public locations.  After a four-month display period, the sculptures were auctioned off and the proceeds used to support local non-profit organizations.  The works were on display around Anderson for four more years, and then the artist retrieved the sculptures, cleaned them, and repainted them all white.

After one of the sculptures was donated to Thorntown in 2015, the Boone County Community Foundation in 2016 purchased five more of the Walking Man sculptures, intending to place them in four communities in Boone County:  two in Lebanon and one each in Zionsville, Whitestown, and Jamestown. The final sculpture, at Lebanon’s Central Christian Church, was placed in February 2018.  The idea is to support for the arts in each of Boone County’s communities and provide a common visual element that links all of the communities together; each one is decorated by the community in a way that reflects the town’s character.  All are placed in prominent locations:  in public parks, in front of key buildings, or along the Big 4 trail that runs through Boone County.

For more information, visit here.  The Walking Man Project also has a blog.

In 2019, artist Cynthia Young was selected to paint the sculpture.  She choose to paint the nearby hiking trail on the sculpture due to the close proximity of the sculpture and trail.