Some tasteless bandits cut anchoring ropes and snatched Twinkie the Kid, a 25-foot, 250-pound inflatable pastry.
By RUBA URI and JANET ZINK
Published May 16, 2003
BRANDON - Twinkies supposedly have an infinite shelf life, but Twinkie the Kid lasted only two weeks on a Brandon curbside.
The 25-foot, 250-pound inflatable pastry was stolen before dawn Wednesday from in front of Merita Bakery. It was waiting there, deflated and defenseless, for its early-morning infusion of air from a generator.
"We brought the generator in every night so it wouldn't get stolen," said Kelly Park, clerk at the bakery. "We didn't think anyone would steal or even want a 250-pound Twinkie."
Whoever snagged the oversized snack cut the ropes that secured it to the ground.
Interstate Brands Corp., the company that owns the Merita outlets, paid $7,200 to have the titanic Twinkie lure customers to its stores.
"The girls and I really miss him," Park said. "We had a little girl come in with her father looking for Twinkie. She misses him as well."
If made of actual refined sugar, flour and artificial ingredients, a 250-pound pastry would pack a walloping 400,000 calories.
Divided into single 1.5-ounce servings, it would feed 6,000 people.
Hostess introduced the Twinkie the Kid cartoon character in 1970. He wears a white cowboy hat with brown trim and white cowboy boots.
The Kid "spends his free time protecting Planet Twinkie's golden snack cake surplus," and his "magic lasso allows the Kid to swiftly capture Twinkie bandits and vandals who threaten the Planet's supply of sweets," according to his bio on www.twinkies.com
His lasso didn't work this time.
Merita Bakery is offering a $250 reward and a free box of Hostess Twinkies for the balloon's return.
Anyone with information on its whereabouts can contact Merita Bakery at 685-5969.
