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Fat Tuesday Can Be Paczki Pandemonium

HAMTRAMCK (WWJ) - Paczki pandemonium is well under way in Hamtramck and across metro Detroit. Lines formed in the wee hours of the morning at local bakeries for people wanting one last taste of their favorite Fat Tuesday indulgence.

Sandy Dakic, a second-generation baker at Martha Washington Bakery in Hamtramck says calls Fat Tuesday at the family business a "hectic happy."

Dakic says they start preparing for the Paczki onslaught two months in advance.

Their signature flavor? Chocolate.

"It's the little things they come back again, new people trying them ... some people never had one," said Dakic.

Gerri Paratto grew up just around the block from Martha Washington Bakery.

"I live out in St. Heights and I won't go to any other bakery but here," said Paratto.

Pat Fredrick now lives in Warren, but comes back every year for more than the paczki.

"My husband died a year ago, and when he died he said don't forget give two-dozen to dialysis for all the workers," said Fredrick.

It's almost like a family reunion for Hamtramck natives who make the annual pilgrimage, but as baker Sandy Dakic says, "You have people waiting in line for about a couple of hours, complete strangers, total friends when they leave here."

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