Happy Birthday, Holland (aka Scoop)!

[TheTwins]

Today is Holland's @ScoopsPins birthday, and we want to wish him a very happy day!!

 

Thanks to the Thursday Night PinPics ZOOM meetings, we met Holland at the very first meeting. Well, I should say that Elizabeth met him. This is probably a good spot to share a story (and feel free to share your own in a reply) . . .

 

Ever since getting into Pin Trading, Sis and I have enjoyed PinPics -- and we've always been keen on adding pins to the database and trading via mail. When the new site design was released early in 2023, Elizabeth was sending in all kinds of feedback to Molly via e-mail and got an invitation to the first ZOOM to give the feedback in person. The announcement said that not only would Molly be answering questions live, but that Holland Hayes (aka Scoop Sanderson) would be speaking about pins for half an hour. Who was he? We'd never heard of him, so we sent a few PMs to friends who had been into pin trading in the parks for a long time.

 

We had a Skype call scheduled with friends that evening, and there was no way I was going to skip out on that just to hear about the PinPics site and listen to some guy talk about old pins. Nope. I set up the laptop and got on Skype while Sis sat at the desktop in the corner and signed into the meeting with a pair of headphones to listen (but no mic or webcam to allow her to do more than add notes into the chat). Her plan was to take part in the Q&A period with Molly and duck out on the guy talking about pins. So much for going to plan . . . Holland got the first half of the meeting, so she was "stuck". Not for long, though. The correct word was "hooked". There was Holland, opening a burrito and talking about Cast Lanyard pins. Sis ended up getting onto the Skype and telling us all about it and totally planning on coming back the next week. Maybe he'd be on again, she said. 

 

The week passes and another Thursday Night rolls around. This time we're in the middle of a storm, and I've got a bad headache and was lying down watching a quiet walkthrough of Animal Kingdom. Sis sits down at the old desktop in the corner with her earphones and tunes into the ZOOM, hoping Holland was going to come on again. Sure enough, there he was! Did I want to come watch? No thanks. Not with the headache. Well, it couldn't have been ten minutes later that Elizabeth starts calling me to come over and look right away. There's Holland showing off a pair of real cloisonne and semi-cloisonne Belle heads, illustrating why the real cloisonne of pin #1326 was such a great example of the early pins, that they were made of ground glass, that there weren't very many color options, that the pins were heavy copper-based beauties, etc. I'd traded for one of those with a girl at Disney Springs on our last trip before COVID (January 2020) and LOVED it. Sis couldn't stand it. She'd been pestering me that week to let her try to trade it for something nicer, but I wanted to keep it. The two of us stood with our noses glued to the computer screen (headache still there but seeming less bothersome) listening to everything that he said. Belle was definitely not going anywhere. 

 

The next week rolled around and there were the two of us, tuned in on the laptop with webcam and microphone running. And we've only missed a few meetings since (only because we were down in Florida on a trip)! Since then, we've gotten to be friends with Holland and spent a lot of time via e-mail and ZOOM talking about "old pins" . . . and new pins . . . and any pins . . . and cats . . . etc. . . . and finally met for the first time in person at Dayton Disneyana this past June! It's come a long way since that first ZOOM meeting, and while we didn't meet on Main Street, we're awfully glad that "guy" tuned in to talk about those old pins!

 

 

Holland, we hope you have a wonderful birthday! 

 

[mollyanne]

Thank you for posting this Sarah!! I was not about to try and figure it out and screw it up..... so I appreciate you getting this up on the site so we can ALL wish @ScoopsPins Holland Hayes a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! So Holland share a post from 2017 on facebook of him as a baby/toddler and I could not help but post that here!!

Seriously, I believe that Holland was born smiling and laughing! Is that the cutest baby picture ever or what!!

So before I knew Holland personally I came across what is definitely my favorite pin in my collection.

PP# 81591......and we need to take a new picture of this pin so into my Drawers of Wonder I will go!
I was able to get a couple more and I remember one of our awesome pin friends getting it in one of our sales and wanting to send it to Holland Hayes to sign. I was intrigued so after getting this pin I wanted more Scoop pins of him and found a Hidden Mickey set of Main Street characters and in a whole line of pins of Scoop on Attractions giving the scoop on the rides!! I had to have them! 

So when Holland and I got introduced through another project and I was so happy to meet him! Then when Joe and I purchased PinPics, Holland was one of the first people to reach out and let us know that he would help us in any way we needed him. I was blown away by this...... Then the time came when WE, Joe, Me and PinPics fell under the attack of a not so nice person out there in the pin world. So many people were angry from what the previous owner (the person we purchased it from) had done or mor had not done after so many promises. This particular person was throwing all sorts of accusations around about fakes and scrapper pics of Cast Lanyards and Hidden Mickeys on the site. Which is what WE definitely did not want so I reached out to Holland because I needed some positive feedback and to ask him what he thought. Immediately he wanted to help us get pictures of his Cast Lanyard and Hidden Mickey pins up on PinPics! He sent us the first archive of the Cast Lanyard pins that came out in 2000 at WDW and we photographed the fronts and backs. We took Holland's Scoop signature and turned it into a water mark so everyone would know that these pins came from Holland Hayes famous for portraying Scoop Sanderson on Main Street in Walt Disney World and being the face of Disney pins for almost 20 years. He even had pins made of his character portrayed by Mickey Mouse! Search for them here on PinPics they are amazing! We felt and feel so lucky to have Holland's support. We have photographed many of Holland's pins for PinPics and hope to photograph many more.

Holland is a wealth of knowledge in regards to Pin Trading, being there from the beginning in 1999 when it launched at Walt Disney World. He is a wealth of knowledge into how Pin Trading started, He has amazing stories that he shares with all of us in his Scoop's Pin Post! Check it out at this link - https://forum.pinpics.com/scoopspinpost/ . 

Above all of that, Holland is just an amazing HUMAN! He has been blessed from above and loves to share those blessings. Holland,  I (and Joe too) want to wish you a Happy Birthday here publicly outside of us chatting privately. Definitely check out Hollands Pin Posts, find him at Pin events in Orlando or in the parks! You can always communicate to Holland through commenting on his pin posts! He would love your feedback and to find out why you started pin trading! He told me he just had a blast this past weekend at The Figment Guys pin event in Orlando! I cannot wait to read other memories shared here on your special day!!

Big hugs and love to you, Holland! 
Molly and Joe

[buzz2001]

Happy birthday Holland!

[pattim]

Happy birthday Holland! 

[12ontheway]

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOLLAND!    I was so excited to meet you at the pin show and sure hope we can meet in Florida when I'm down in April. 

[ScoopsPins]

Wow! Feeling so much love! Thank you! You are all very special to me, and I feel so blessed by such admirable friends! What an amazing day I’ve had, and what amazing friends I have!