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November 21, 1999
Tour of Homes gives holiday decorating previewSleepy Eye tour celebrates holiday hospitalityBy TONY ZIEBOL Journal Staff Writer SLEEPY EYE -- At the house located at 501 3rd Ave., sheep outnumber everything. They're not real, but on every floor, in every room, it's sheep and more sheep. Besides dozens of the stuffed variety, there's sheep designs on bed sheets, sheep figurines, and even sheep sugar cookies were available on the dining room table. The owner of the house, Sue Salewske, has been collecting the sheep for about 20 years, and with her residences being showcased in the Sleepy Eye Convention & Visitors Bureau's Homes For the Holidays, many more people are getting a chance to see them. "They're just such a quite and docile animal and they're just fun to collect," Salewske said. Salewske's house is one of five area residences decorated for the holiday season that are being shown this weekend on the tour. Besides the sheep, Salewske's house also has a room full quilts, some stencil work done by Salewske herself and a living room filled with candles and woodwork. By early Saturday night, about 300 people had already visited the house At Nancy and Zeke Gehrke's place, the whole family took part in creating "A Homespun Christmas." Items throughout the house were hand-made by the Gehrke's including tree ornaments made out of cinnamon and apple sauce, different kinds of table creations, quilts and many other creative crafts. Nancy Gehrke said she had already done some crafts but spent all summer working on different projects to be shown during the tour,. "Some of the projects I had stashed away for years that finally got done," she said. (Her daughter Jessica, 13) also contributed a lot." Different rooms in the house had different themes. In one upstage bedroom and bathroom, the rooms were decorated with ice skating items, since Nancy and Jessica Gehrke both belong to the New Ulm Figure Skating Club. Another upstairs room had the personality of "Grandma Gehrke," who had liked hats, tea parties and the color pink. Downstairs the Jessica's room was filled with dolls and other girl things, while Tommy's (who is 10) room had more Minnesota Vikings paraphernalia than Christmas decorations. "He was born with a ball, I think," Nancy Gehrke said. Tommy Gehrke did, however, have a unique Christmas tree decorated with Loony Toons characters. Other than the Salewske and Gehrke houses, the Homes For the Holidays tour also includes the residences of Perry and Lisa Pietig, Loren and Cheryll Blick and Carol Speckman. The SCVB started the tour five years ago in hopes of bringing more tourism to Sleepy Eye. A few homes are chosen each year and given some money to help with the decorations, Salewske said. Town merchants also help out, giving discounts to those decorating for the tour. For those who missed the first day, the tour runs today from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets are $7 and are available at the Orchid Inn, 500 Burnside. People without tickets may still visit the Faith United Methodist Church, 321 1st Ave., which is having a craft and bake sale during the tour and the Sleepy Eye Depot, which is also on the tour list.
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