The Seattle Times has a great article about Mountlake Terrace resident Joe Traxler who is retiring from Hostess after 50 years with the company. Joe’s family surprised him by having his whole family participate in the Tour de Terrace parade in July and hand out twinkies. See the photos below frfrom the parade. Here’s an excerpt, head to the Seattle Times web site to read the entire article:

Call Traxler, 68, “The Twinkie King,” responsible for helping make a billion or more of the things and sending them into the world.

“Anyplace I go, a ballgame or a park, any place where people are enjoying themselves, the Twinkie will always be around,” he said the other day over coffee and (!) banana bread at his home in Mountlake Terrace.

“They taste good,” he said. “If I have a Twinkie and eat it, I thoroughly enjoy it. Simple as that.”

What’s hard to wrap your mind around is the years Traxler has spent behind the mixer, in a building that has sent sweet smells over Aurora Avenue near Seattle Center for generations.

“That, to me, is amazing,” said Mark Silva, the plant manager of the Hostess Cake Bakery, now owned by Interstate Brands. “He’s the one that everyone looks to. Even the sourpusses have only good things to say about Joe.”

Hard to find them in a roomful of sugar.

“We will feel it when Joe is gone,” said Maree McDonald, the assistant sanitation supervisor. “He’s the man here.”