November 2024

A proposal to build a community rec center, a performing arts auditorium and new middle school classrooms at Sleepy Eye Public for a total cost of up to $38.9 million met stiff opposition in a district-wide survey, data shared Monday with the School Board showed.The results, compiled from answers to a questionnaire that went to all residents in the Sleepy Eye Public School District in September, torpedoed any immediate plans to bring the project to a public vote in a bond referendum.“Right now I cannot give a recommendation that any of the projects would have support,” said Daren Sievers, who presented the findings over a live video feed for School Perceptions, the Wisconsin-based company that conducted the research.The survey, which was drafted in consultation with District Superintendent John Cselovszki – a primary backer of the proposal – listed a range of projects that it said “would allow us to remain competitive with surrounding communities that have recently upgraded their own facilities.” The centerpiece was a multipurpose facility for use by community members and student-athletes from the area, with a 200-meter track, playing courts, batting cages and locker rooms, as well as a weight room for student-athletes.

Word has been out since last spring that Sleepy Eye Holiday Lights in Motion was taking this year off, as the volunteers who run it announced in March that they needed a break and hoped to return with more hands to help stage the attraction in 2025 and beyond.Nonetheless, as the days ticked down to the traditional start of the massive, musically synced light display that animates Sportsmen’s Park from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, some people still have been surprised to learn the event is on hiatus, said Mike Suess, one of its main organizers and light stringers.“There are people that are unaware yet,” he said.He and others are hoping the year off will encourage more people to join them the next time they stage the light show and help keep the tradition going.

The loose roosters that have been roaming Sleepy Eye’s neighborhoods since mid-September are still alive and crowing.The Herald-Dispatch reported on the chickens’ mysterious appearance in October.