Ruth Anne Maddox of the Shakopee Valley News reports:

The long-awaited arrival of the bronze sculpture to be placed at Shakopee High School is near and the public is asked to “Save the date” for the unveiling and dedication at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23.

The life-size sculpture of city founders Samuel W. Pond, educator and missionary, and Chief Shakopee, leader of the Mdewakanton Tribe of the Dakota Sioux, meeting at the Mill Pond in Shakopee, will be placed just inside the entry at the high school.

Due to the untimely death of the artist, Bill Huber, the award-winning artist’s final piece will have a memorial plaque on the wall beside the sculpture. The 1962 graduate of Shakopee High School was commissioned by the Shakopee Educational Endowment Foundation (SEEF) to create the sculpture and it took Huber two years to complete it. He died on Dec. 9 at the age of 63, shortly after the molds were delivered to the Creative Casting, the Howard Lake, Minn., foundry, where the bronze was cast.

Jack Trimbo and Pamela Wilger of SEEF offered an update on the project to the School Board on Monday and Wilger said a group from SEEF went to see the sculpture about a month ago, “and it’s just beautiful.”

In addition to the memorial plaque, there will be a plaque explaining the project, as well as one listing the major donors ($5,000 or more) for the project. All of the plaques will be done in bronze and cast at the same foundry as the sculpture.

Huber’s son, Josh, will make the official unveiling and his widow, Nancy, also will take part in the dedication. The Hubers have lived in Colorado for many years and Nancy Huber said at the time of his death that she is honored the committee will pay tribute to Bill. She said that seeing the project finished is the best way to memorialize her husband.

The dedication will include a private reception for the major donors and their families will precede the public program at 3 p.m. Members of the Pond family also are expected in attendance.

And, while the sculpture and plaques have been paid for through more than $200,000 in donations, Trimbo said there are still some incidentals that need to be covered. Donations continued to be accepted at Shakopee Educational Endowment Foundation Bronze Sculpture Project (501c3), P.O. Box 144, Shakopee, MN 55379.

Ruth Anne Maddox is a staff writer for the Shakopee Valley News. She can be reached at 952-345-6678 or rmaddox@swpub.com.