The board of the new Sleepy Eye Regional Foundation on Tuesday decided its first project will be to improve and beautify the grounds around the Chief Sleepy Eye obelisk monument.The group anticipates needing to raise as much as $10,000 or more for the work, which in one landscaper’s proposal would feature new colored concrete around the monument, flowing walkways with curved edges, and rock beds with decorative grasses and other plants.Currently, the city-owned site conveys a weathered, barren look, with old sidewalks, a worn bench and a patch of lilies the only vegetation besides lawn grass around the large granite obelisk where the Sisseton Dakota chief is buried.“It looks tired,” said Sara Hornbrook, a foundation board member who also serves on the board of the Sleepy Eye Area Historical Society, which supports the beautification proposal.Sleepy Eye Regional Foundation board members are preparing to launch their fundraising efforts after re-establishing themselves following a period of inactivity and lapsed IRS status by the foundation’s defunct predecessor, the Sleepy Eye Area Foundation.
