Museum founder selling Hopalong Cassidy items

A pledge made more than five years ago when Cambridge firefighters rescued a statue of Hopalong Cassidy from a fire-ravaged museum will be honored when Laura Bates sells her “Hoppy” memorabilia at auction.

Bates said at the time of the fire at the Hopalong Cassidy Museum in 2016 that if she ever sold the six-foot statue of William Boyd, also known as Hopalong Cassidy, she would donate the proceeds to the Cambridge Fire Department. Boyd lived in Cambridge as a child, and would become an actor who played Hopalong Cassidy in western movies.

“They saved him and I told myself, my family and Chief Jeff Deeks at that time that I would donate the revenue from the sale of the statue, if I ever sold it, to the department,” said Bates. “I would like to see it raise at least $3,000 for the fire department.”

Deeks said the revenue could be used to purchase equipment for firefighters or address other needs at the fire department on Gaston Avenue.

“We are very appreciative,” said Deeks. “Laura doesn’t have to do that, but we are very appreciative for what she is doing. Anything will certainly help the department.”

The paper mache statue was created by Red Moore of Arkansas and brought to the 1998 festival where it and a similar figure of Roy Rogers were sold to a Cambridge collector. The Hoppy figure was later purchased for the museum.

Bates has decided to sell her collection for two reasons.

“I will be 88 in December and I’m blessed to have most of my mind, so I thought it’s time to start downsizing a little,” said Bates. “And, I need to share what I have with the rest of the world.”

The auction, which begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Carol Goff’s Auction House, 648 Wheeling Ave., will also include other museum items from Bates’ 30-year collection of research materials related to William Boyd.

Many pictures of Hollywood guests who attended the annual Hopalong Cassidy Festival in Cambridge will be included in the auction conducted by Col. James Rogers and his son, Stephen Rogers. Additional information on the auction can be found at www.auctionzip.com/listings/3580328.html

The museum

Bates is credited with being the founder of the Hopalong Cassidy Museum, local fan club and the festival.

The idea to start the Hopalong Cassidy Festival that eventually led to the museum in Cambridge was first pitched by Bates more than 31 years ago following a spring festival hosted by the downtown merchants.

“It was during an evaluation after the spring festival in 1990 that people asked what can we do next year, and I said how about a Hopalong Cassidy Festival,” said Bates. “They asked why him, and I told them he lived here and went to school here, so why not.”

The Hopalong Cassidy Festival started in 1991 and continued for 25 years.

While Bates first pitched the idea, she admits the inspiration came from a New York resident she interviewed for her “Two About Town” show on Channel 2 television in the mid- to late 1980s.

“She told me the whole story of William Boyd and said it’s too bad nobody from his hometown is doing any to celebrate him,” said Bates. “Here I was hit in the face by somebody from the Big Apple with that. It festered with me until 1990 when I finally said something about a Hopalong Cassidy Festival.”

The idea for the interview with the New York resident came after the woman visited the Guernsey County District Public Library in Cambridge.

Bates said she began researching Boyd in 1990 and later met a man from Connecticut who authored a book about Boyd, who was born at Hendrysburg in western Belmont County in 1895.

He later moved to Cambridge where he attended Park School for seven years.

After a visit to Cambridge and Hendrysburg, the author encouraged Bates to reach out to other Hoppy fans as part of an effort to honor the man who followed his dream to be a cowboy in the movies.

“I put out feelers and 46 people responded,” said Bates of a newsletter that would become part of the local fan club. “The first edition was printed by The Daily Jeffersonian in March 1991.”

Each newsletter would reach more than 500 readers at its maximum, said Bates.

Visitors to the Hopalong Cassidy Festival would come from 48 states, Canada, and Germany over the years.

“People would come here and think Cambridge is one of the best things that happened,” said Bates.

The fire on Sept. 3, 2016, would be the end of the museum.

Bates is credited with being the founder of the Hopalong Cassidy Museum, local fan club and the festival.

Cambridge firefighters, from left, Engineer Scott Elliot, Paul Gabel and Paul Hill move a statue of William Boyd to the Carol Goff Auction House, where he will be sold on Saturday. Proceeds from the sale of the statue will go to the fire department. Firefighters saved the statue of the former Cambridge resident who played Hopalong Cassidy in western movies from a fire at the Hopalong Cassidy Museum.

PHOTOS BY RICK STILLION/THE DAILY JEFFERSONIAN A Hopalong Cassidy statue, owned by Laura Bates, has called Country Bits & Pieces home since a fire destroyed the Hopalong Cassidy Museum in downtown Cambridge. Pictured along with the Hopalong Cassidy statue are, from left, Country Bits & Pieces owner Dee Johnson, Cambridge firefighter Paul Gabel, Bates, Fire Chief Jeff Deeks, firefighter Paul Hill and engineer Scott Elliot.