Shakopee will unveil a statue Tuesday of its namesake, Chief Sakpe, as part of a historic downtown improvement project to honor the city's heritage.
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community provided a $50,000 grant to help restore the artwork they found in storage depicting Chief Sakpe, leader of a Mdewakanton Dakota village in the mid-1800s.
In 2004, the tribe commissioned artist Danny Heskew, member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma, to design a Chief Sakpe likeness for a display at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. A relief of the statue was located during a recent construction project and donated to the city.
The grant paid for the statue's transportation back to a Colorado art studio for restoration. Once unveiled, the work will remain displayed on a Kasota veneer wall behind the new Shakopee sign on Hwy. 101.
From his perch, Chief Sakpe and his horse will watch over downtown Shakopee — a bustling Twin Cities suburb that was originally settled by Dakota Indians along the banks of the Minnesota River.
"The statue physically connects people with Shakopee's history," said Michael Kerski, director of planning and development. "It honors where we've been and serves as a landmark feature for people coming into the city."
A dedication ceremony, complete with American Indian dancers, will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday under the River City Centre. Mayor Bill Mars and SMSC General Council members will say a few words.
A group of Shakopee residents is also raising money for a bronze statue of missionary Samuel W. Pond to display at the City Centre. The estimated cost is $150,000. At the invitation of Chief Sakpe, Pond came to the prairie village in the late 1840s, where he would found First Presbyterian, Shakopee's oldest church.
