Welcome home, Harold Hamgravy 28th character on Popeye Character Trail unveiled
Chester has a new son. His name is Harold Hamgravy and he is the 28th character on the popular Popeye & Friends Character Trail.
The trail, coordinated by resident Mike McClure, runs throughout the City of Chester. Each year since its inception in 2006, a new granite statue representing characters from Elzie Segar's Popeye cartoon strips has been added to the trail.
Harold Hamgravy was unveiled Oct. 16 at State and Taylor streets in Chester, in front of the Fisher, Kerkhover, Coffey, & Gremmels law offices.
Hamgravy and Olive Oyl were the first two characters created by Elzie C. Segar on Dec. 19, 1919 for his Thimble Theatre strip. Hamgravy was the first fiancé of Olive Oyl, whose statue (2007) is the street from Harold's in the Randolph County Courthouse parking lot.
The two characters don't look directly at each other, but appear to be positioned so they can glance at each other if they want to.
Approximately 30 people attended the unveiling, including McClure, Chester Mayor Tom Page and several of his staff, and attorneys Jeff Kerkhover, Jason Coffey and Jordan Gremmels with their staffs; along with the statue's sponsors and members of the community.
The statue was made by Lager Monument Company of Breeze, Illinois, which delivered it Oct. 13. Kurt Schroeder of Red Dot Construction handled the lifting of the statue from the Lager truck onto the base.
"I can't express how grateful I am for the many sponsors of the ongoing Popeye & Friends Character Trail," McClure said.
"Without them and their faithful, generous support, the continued expansion of the trail would not be possible. As long as the public's interest and encouragement remains strong, the Popeye & Friends Character Trail will continue to expand.
McClure said the Popeye Trail brings thousands of visitors to chester evey year.
"These tourists spend their money here," he added. "In the past decade alone, we've had visitors from 91 different countries and all 50 states. Our annual addition to the Trail keeps Chester and its favorite son, Popeye, in the public's eye, and promotes our city as a must-see destination."
The previous 27 characters on the trail and their years of installation are: Popeye (1977), Wimpy (2006), Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea & Eugene the Jeep (2007), Bluto (2008), Castor Oyl & Whiffle Hen (2009), Sea Hag & Bernard (2010), Cole Oyl (2011), Alice the Goon & her Child (2012), Poopdeck Pappy (2013), Professor Wotasnozzle (2014), Roughhouse (2015), Popeye's Four Nephews (2016), King Blozo (2017), Nana Oyl (2018), Popeye's Pups (2019), Sherlock & Segar (2019), and Toar (2020).
The 29th character on the Popeye & Friends Character Trail - Oscar - will be installed at Cole Memorial Park in Chester in 2022.