{"id":28157,"date":"2022-12-21T18:29:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T23:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=28157"},"modified":"2022-12-21T18:29:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T23:29:32","slug":"binky-lakelands-unofficial-mascot-lives-on-in-lakeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2022\/12\/21\/binky-lakelands-unofficial-mascot-lives-on-in-lakeland\/","title":{"rendered":"Binky \u2013 Lakeland\u2019s unofficial mascot Lives on in Lakeland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who was\u00a011 feet long, with\u00a0one eye,\u00a0three legs, and an\u00a0appetite for popcorn and marshmallows?\u00a0If you said Blinky the alligator, Lakeland\u2019s unofficial mascot during the 70s, you\u2019re correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The iconic beast was re-memorialized as a 100-ft. jungle gym at Bonnet Springs Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as Blinky or One-Eyed Joe, the 11-foot beast held court in Lakeland’s Lake Mirror. He was saluted as the town’s unofficial mascot and heralded as a tourist attraction: Children often tried to pet him, and one man was even known to kiss him on the snout now and then. “Blinky is a special treat — the way Mickey Mouse is to Disneyland,” wrote Lin Clark of Connecticut in a 1978 letter to The Ledger. “We have pictures of him and articles about him — we have always thought his location should be part of your town’s attractions.” But it was Blinky’s disarming friendliness — and ferocious potential — that proved his undoing. “I simply can’t believe the fuss that is being made about something normally considered a public hazard,” S. Brown wrote in another letter. “Let’s remember that we are talking about a cold-blooded reptile and not a cute little puppy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bBlinky was an alligator with a personality. Thought to be about 50 years old, he was missing an eye and a foot, making him a distinctive fixture on Lake Mirror throughout the 1970s. Although state law has long banned the feeding of alligators, it became a regular practice for people to visit Blinky and offer him everything from popcorn to table scraps. A lot of Lakeland residents thought it was cute. The Florida Fish and Game Commission, however, did not. “Alligators overcome their natural shyness and become accustomed or attracted to humans when fed,” the commission, now known as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, states on its Web site. “By feeding alligators, people create problems for others who want to use the water for recreational purposes.” By September 1978, Fish and Game officials said if the Lakeland City Commission didn’t do something soon to separate Blinky from the public, the alligator would have to go. Many of them being Blinky fans themselves, the commissioners considered several options. But placing a chain-link fence around the lake sounded tacky, and extending a concrete wall around the lake to match the rest of the Lake Mirror Promenade proved too costly. “A million-dollar gator,” said Commissioner George Burt, Blinky’s biggest cheerleader, groaning after he heard the estimate for the concrete wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0In the end, Blinky was moved to Homosassa Springs to live out the rest of his days in peace. At least, that’s what the humans intended. Blinky, however, had other ideas. Not content to be just another gator at the small tourist attraction, Blinky immediately started jockeying for position among the other alligators and crocodiles. His biggest foe was a whopper: a 1,000-pound crocodile named Jake. “Being the king of that lake (Mirror) down there, I guess he figured he had to be king here, too,” told J.P. Garner, attractions manager at Homosassa Springs, to The Ledger in April 1979. “So he started following Jake. Every minute, every day, he’d be looking for him.” Blinky didn’t last long. Sometime in the night that spring, Jake and Blinky got into their final fight. What was left of Blinky was discovered the next morning. “Jake just couldn’t take it anymore,” Garner said. “There wasn’t much of a match-up.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Blinky,\u00a0or as some locals liked to call him,\u00a0\u201cOne-eyed Joe,\u201d used to\u00a0freely roam downtown Lakeland\u00a0as a\u00a0beloved communal pet.\u00a0While you might be hard-pressed to find such a friendly alligator these days, the 70s in Lakeland were,\u00a0well, a different time (one that these 90\u2019s babies editors are a little scared of, but overall bummed we didn\u2019t get to experience).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With frequent pats on the head and treats delivered right to him, Blinky was considered a relatively harmless member of the greater Lakeland family. He was, after all, as much of Lakeland\u2019s mascot at that time as our ever-beloved swans are today. Children frequently visited him at his Lake Mirror home to feed him table scraps, but his favorites were reported to be marshmallows and popcorn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all good things, Blinky\u2019s downtown residence and closeness with Lakeland\u2019s youngins did come to an end. The cause? One local\u2019s daring decision to give Blinky a kiss right on his toothy snout. While the kisser came out unharmed (although we might argue, a little less desirable as a valentine), a photo of the moment garnered attention from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (then called The Florida Fish and Game Commission), who ultimately called for Blinky\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In\u00a01979, Blinky was moved to his new home in\u00a0Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.\u00a0Enter: Our story\u2019s antagonist.\u00a0At\u00a01,000 lbs, Homosassa Springs\u2019 resident crocodile,\u00a0Jake, was\u00a0a feisty and\u00a0territorial\u00a0personality who didn\u2019t much care for\u00a0400-lb Blinky\u2019s\u00a0imposition\u00a0into his kingdom.\u00a0The two scuffled on multiple occasions, and it was one such event on March 3, 1979, that\u00a0the rivalry proved fatal for Blinky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a time, a metal structure\u00a0commemorated Blinky beside Lake Mirror. Although\u00a0that sculpture has since been removed, a newer and\u00a0much larger\u00a0tribute to our dearly departed now lives at the\u00a0Florida Children\u2019s Museum,\u00a0the new and highly anticipated expansion of Explorations V Children\u2019s Museum\u00a0located at Bonnet Springs Park. Children can climb the\u00a0100-ft. long Blinky jungle gym, which also features\u00a0swings, a\u00a0slide down Blinky\u2019s tail,\u00a0and plenty of spots to explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who was\u00a011 feet long, with\u00a0one eye,\u00a0three legs, and an\u00a0appetite for popcorn and marshmallows?\u00a0If you said Blinky the alligator, Lakeland\u2019s unofficial mascot during the 70s, you\u2019re correct. The iconic beast was re-memorialized as… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[4107],"class_list":["post-28157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-binky-lakelands-unofficial-mascot-lives-on-in-lakeland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28157"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28165,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28157\/revisions\/28165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}