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2010 Roy Rogers Festival
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Roy Rogers Dale Evans Museum Closes |
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Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum Closes in Branson, MO
 I have been personally agonizing over how to start this letter. I guess I will start by saying thank you. Thank you for the years of love, support, prayers and loyalty to the Rogers Family. You, the fans, and our Board of Directors, are the ones who have kept our family's museum going for over 42 years. It has been a wonderful ride. After millions of visitors and countless stories of what Roy and Dale have meant to you, the Board of Directors have voted to close our doors of the Museum at the end of 2009. This has not been an easy decision. Many very emotional and financial issues have been addressed by all of us, as you can well imagine. The decision to close the Museum has come after two years of steady decline in visitors to the Museum. A lot of factors have made our decision for us. The economy for one, people are just not traveling as much. Dad's fans are getting older, and concerned about their retirement funds. Everyone is concerned about their future in this present economy. Secondly, with our high fiscal obligations we cannot continue to accumulate debt to keep the doors open.This situation is one I have not wanted to happen. Dad always said- “If the museum starts costing you money, then liquidate everything and move on.” Myself and my family have tried to hold together the Museum and collection for over 15 years, so it is very difficult to think that it will all be gone soon. What will happen to Roy Rogers, Jr and his family? For those of you that have heard I am retiring, nothing could be farther from the truth. My company, Golden Stallion, and its show tribute to Roy and Dale, will continue. I plan on taking the show to another venue in Branson. We are looking for space now. The show will also be available to travel around the country and take the message of Roy and Dale wherever we travel. I feel that this country needs the message that Roy and Dale always put forth, not only in their professional lives, but in their private lives as well. The Museum's last day of operation will be December 12th. We want everyone to have the opportunity to visit the Museum one last time to see the collection in its entirety. This will be your last chance to see Roy and Dale's collection. Tell your friends and encourage them to come, before we close. This will be your final chance!! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Remember, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans will live forever in our hearts and minds, and will continue to ride across the silver screen through their movies. Every time you think of Roy and Dale, that warm feeling you have always felt, will always return. Watch our website for further announcements and special dates. I leave you all with Dad's favorite saying- Good bye, Good luck, and may the good Lord take a likin' to ya! See you in Branson, or on the road. Love to all of you! Happy Trails, Dusty and Family |
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PDT Staff Writer January 24, 2010 It is perhaps the end of "Happy Trails" for the trusty steed Trigger. The beloved golden palomino of King of the Cowboys Roy Rogers will hit the auction block later this summer. The horse's home, the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Branson, Mo., has closed. Mounting debts and a steady decline in visitors to the museum caused the board of directors to close doors in December 2009. Visitors to the museum's Web site found an announcement from Roy Rogers Jr. addressing the decision. In it, he said, "A lot of factors have made our decision for us. The economy for one, people are just not traveling as much. Dad's fans are getting older, and concerned about their retirement funds. Everyone is concerned about their future in this present economy. Secondly, with our high fiscal obligations we cannot continue to accumulate debt to keep the doors open. This situation is one I have not wanted to happen. Dad always said, 'If the museum starts costing you money, then liquidate everything and move on.' Myself and my family have tried to hold together the Museum and collection for over 15 years, so it is very difficult to think that it will all be gone soon." Television's most famous horse (mounted into his familiar majestic pose) will accompany Dale Evans' horse Buttermilk, their cherished German shepherd Bullet and a vast collection of iconic memorabilia at four separate auctions within the next six months. Experts estimate the items collectively to fetch into multi-millions. The second of the Roy Rogers auctions will occur at the High Noon Western Americana auction house in Mesa, AZ., on January 30. Several very special pieces will be offered. Linda Kohn, one of the owners of High Noon said, "Roy Rogers was such an icon to everyone who grew up with him and Dale. I speak for myself as being one of those people. As a baby-boomer, he was a really important part of my childhood. Also, he was personally such a lovely man and he and his wife had great family values and it brings us all back to not only that time but to those values. It's about good over evil. It's the memory of a great cowboy who stayed on his horse and paid attention to all the little children." Kohn elaborated on the iconic items that would be offered at the Jan. 30 auction. She said, "We have his personal Bohlin spurs, made by a prominent spur maker. They're beautiful. And they're in so many photographs of him both on camera and off. They are estimated at $30,000. We have his parade saddle made by Edward H. Bohlin. It's carved leather with sterling silver and engraved adornments. It's estimated at $50,000- $100,000. There is a pair of guns — Colt single-actions that he used all the time in his films and they're both in his gun rig. Those are estimated at $30,000. We have Dale's high heel shoes that are so very beautiful and they have sterling silver heel caps — the same sterling silver they put on Roy's saddles and are estimated at $2,000. We have a lot of their clothing, buckles, his watch, other boots, so we have a lot of personal items of theirs. Some of the outfits are stunning that he used on stage and one of them is called his Rose Parade outfit." In speaking with Dave Koch, Roy's grandson-in-law, he felt that the legacy of Roy and Dale is timeless. Koch said, "I think it should live forever. Their message has always been a crucial part of American history. A lot of people have grown up with Roy and Dale as their heroes and I think that should continue." Koch also commented on what Portsmouth meant to Roy. "Roy loved calling Portsmouth his home," he said. LaRue Horsley is the president of the Portsmouth Area Community Exhibits organization and coordinates the annual Roy Rogers Festival of Portsmouth. Although he admits the closing of the museum is unfortunate, he also has found the good to come of it. "It was a very necessary thing," he said. "It goes from a business and celebrity type thing to a historical thing. That's what's happening and Roy predicted it pretty well. Mostly what's happening with the closing of the museum and the sale is it's sparking a renewed interest in the Portsmouth Roy Rogers Festival. We will be one of very few places in the U.S. that people can come to and have any kind of Roy Rogers event. We've gotten a lot of calls about it. There's going to be a commemorative postage stamp of Roy and we're going to have an official event for that at the festival. Roy's daughter, Dodie, will be here with her husband and will be bringing a western puppet show for the kids. We'll be in our 27th year and this has given us a renewed interest." Horsley spoke about how the festival came about. "Our organization was founded in 1981 and we were founded to honor people from our area that had contributed in some way to the recognition of our area," Horsley said. "We came up with a list of 97 people that we had researched and everyone agreed (and probably still would agree) that Roy Rogers should be number one. We decided that we needed to do an annual event for Roy so we solicited 10,000 signatures from the city and bound them in a book and presented that to Roy. We invited him to come to a homecoming to officially recognize him and have him come home and in the fall of 1982, he came." Horsley felt that Roy Rogers' legacy is a powerful one and that much of it remains in Portsmouth. He said, "When these things happen and people get older and leave this world, they leave behind their legacy. So much reverts to history and so much of Roy's history is here in Portsmouth. He's probably going to be one of the greatest film icons in American history. His reputation of honesty and God and country is a part of that legacy because that is the kind of life he portrayed and lived. His boyhood home is here. It's now on the Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail. When people travel here, they'll find Roy Rogers here. We need to make sure we accent that." LaRue Horsley found that there will be three other group auctions. One in mid-April in Moline, Ill., will sell all firearms. In July, Christies of NYC will auction music and video items, as well as paper memorabilia. And another auction will take place in July at the High Noon. Now with no museum, and all of the treasures soon to be scattered throughout the world, the transplanted heart of the cerulean-skied 1950s West might just be our Portsmouth, Ohio. It was Roy's Portsmouth, too. If loyal fans can shake off the trail dust, they will find that the King of the Cowboys' memory lives on right where he started. MAJAL PERRY can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 234 or via email at pdtfeatures@portsmouth-dailytimes.com. |
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For information on the Roy Rogers Festival:
740.353.0900
Email: Roy Rogers Festival - Portsmouth, OH
Nancy & LaRue Horsley
P.O. Box 1166
Portsmouth, OH 45662
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