Gumby, Google, Clokey and Hastings. Oh My!

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This title sounds like a band from the 70s.
However, Google has a great interactive doodle today in honor of Art Clokey, creator of green guy Gumby.
Clokey would have been 90 today, but he passed away last year.
But did you know that the Gumby came from my hometown of Hastings, MN!
Indeed I thought this odd too when I saw this fact on a map of Hastings that has hung in the family home for years. Clokey was Californian and seemed to have no connections wtih the North Star State, so I thought this incredulous.
I did a little digging and then found my answer in an article in the Star Tribune from October 20th, 2003.  Dick Parker and Heron Marquez Estrada did a the hard work and re-discovered that Echo Plastics of Hastings manufactured millions of Gumby and Pokey toys up to about 1971.
So I guess Minnesota can claim the green guy and his red pony after all. Perhaps the state quarter would have been more collectible if it had Gumby and Pokey on it.

[I did find a possible Minnesota connection for Clokey, although it may be thin, but I am sure GK would agree with it. Clokey and his wife made films for the Lutheran church, specifically the Davey and Goliath series. Now, most of the world knows Minnesota is home to a myriad of Lutherans- so that is Art Clokey's connection to Minnesota I surmise.]

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