BUFFALO, N.Y. — Paczki is one way to indulge on Fat Tuesday before Lent begins. Eileen's Bakery in West Seneca had a steady stream of people buying the traditional Polish treat beginning at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
"I'm keeping one box at home, the others are going to work. It's my yearly treat for the office people," Joe Lochocka told 2 On Your Side.
"It's a Polish tradition. I do it every Fat Tuesday. So that everybody knows that this is the start of Lent," another customer said.
Co-Owner Carol Parker was expected to sell out of more than 8,000 paczki by the afternoon.
"Hopefully, we usually do. We try to make more every year, but we can only make so many. We only have so much time," said Eileen's Owner Carol Parker.
Meanwhile downtown, The Quarter restaurant on Virginia Place was getting ready for crowds of people to take their Fat Tuesday celebrations into the evening hours.
"We're going to be cooking all day today, preparing everything for the evening. Our gumbo is going to be our big feature today," said General Manager Brandon Carr.
The restaurant will use projectors to steam live scenes from the parades in New Orleans during the event. It's scheduled to last from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m.
"We look forward to a long, fun night," said Carr.
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