From bars to bakeries, Hamtramck's Fat Tuesday tradition kept alive

In her nearly 40 years of living in Hamtramck, Meyoisha Hatcher had never experienced the time-honored tradition of lining up outside of New Palace Bakery for freshly baked paczki on Fat Tuesday.

"This is my first time standing in line," she said, adding she'd been in line for about an hour and was still a ways away from the bakery's front door. "It's pretty cold, but I had a day off of work, and I just wanted to share with my family, who are also here in Hamtramck. My favorite flavor right now is raspberry, but I heard about the peanut butter and jelly one and the cream cheese ones."

While Hatcher is new to the experience of waiting in line for a box of Polish paczki on a chilly Hamtramck morning, this is a tradition many buzzing around the bakery have kept for years and years.

Fat Tuesday (also called Shrove Tuesday) is the day before Ash Wednesday, a holy day of prayer and fasting for many Christians who observe Lent, which recalls the 40 days that Jesus went into the wilderness without food or water following his baptism.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which lasts until Easter weekend. Many observers choose to give something up during this time, such as sweets, hence the sugar rush on Fat Tuesday.

New Palace is considered "Paczki Headquarters" and has gotten national news coverage for its longstanding paczki operation. While the city was once home to many Polish bakeries and markets, this is one of the few that remain.

Ranging from $31.95-$41.95 per dozen, the 116-year-old bakery served traditional paczki flavors like raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, custard, lemon and apple. This year’s specialty creations are honey cream dream, roaring blueberry blitz, orange creamski, peanut butter and jelly, buttercream and triple chocolate.

Jerry Costanza of Ann Arbor said he's not Polish, but he and girlfriend Kim were amped to get to Hamtramck at 7:30 a.m. for paczki. They finally got their boxes from New Palace just before 9:30 a.m.

"It's just a tradition that, you know, in a world of dying traditions I like to keep it alive," Costanza said. "We just come down and make it our morning, and then we pass them out ... coworkers, family ... that's almost the most fun because so people are like, I'm not getting out of bed for a doughnut. So it's nice to pass them out."

The early morning paczki run is a tradition for Phil Glinka of Fraser, too, who walked out of New Palace with a stack of five dozen in his arms as he does every Fat Tuesday. He's also going to spread the love around town.

"We came when it was snow up to your knees, but it's a little bit warmer this year," said Glinka, who was dressed for the weather in a furry hat. "These are going to two different podiatry offices, to my great-grandma and then my mom."

From the bakeries to the bars

Within steps of New Palace Bakery, the staffs at Baker Streetcar Bar and Whiskey in the Jar were getting ready for the crowds of revelers who are expected to fill the city's venues, halls and dives throughout Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Baker owner Mark Hausner and his staff will sell beignets-sized paczki they'll shoot liquor in and actual beignets are being served from a food truck behind the bar.

"Because of the temperature I think it's going to be a very good Paczki Day. We're excited, we think it's going to be better than last year," said Hausner, adding that while cold (mid 30s with some flurries), it wasn't single-digit temperatures as in previous years.

A block over at Whiskey in the Jar, the heated tent in back of the bar was warmed up as the Kielbasa Kings did a sound check and staff inside and in the tents braced for the mid-day rush. After the Kings, the party-rock-comedy band Polish Muslims take over around 2:30 p.m. in the tent.

Inside the Whiskey in the Jar, bartender Katie Palonis was ready to serve crowds an array of special drinks for Paczki Day.

"We have Paczki Day Vodka Jell-O shots, we've got tons of Jezy, Polish beers Tyskie and Zywiec," Palonis said.

Eat through the pain

While some will savor their paczki or paczek today, four men put their guts on the line for glory at the annual paczki-eating competition at the Polish League of Veterans Post 10 on Jos. Campau just north of downtown Hamtramck.

Dressed in an American flag button-down shirt, Milford's Darien Worrell came out the winner with 14 paczki downed. Tuesday was his 25th time entering this contest; he'll get his name on the Paczki Cup for a third time with this win. Worrell's personal record is 14 and a half paczki.

"My strategy was to win, honestly," he said after taking a moment to clean some jelly out of his admirable beard. "It's my 25th year, I just wanted to win."

After a quarter century of celebrating Paczki Day in Hamtramck, Worrell calls the day "amazing."

"The cultural experience, how cleaned up it's become, it's come along way in 25 years ... the construction they've done, the buildings have businesses in them. It's beautiful."

The contest was hosted by 10-time champion Matthew Holowicki, who is retired from this particular eating match. He holds the cup record with 23 paczki.

"They need to eat through the pain," Holowicki said when asked what it takes to win. Even though he no longer competes in paczki-eating, he still comes to Hamtramck on Fat Tuesday to support others and enjoy the day.

"I'm Polish. In parts of the country it's Fat Tuesday, in other parts it's Shrove Tuesday, but it's Paczki Day in Hamtramck," he said. "We're going to have some good food, have a few drinks and enjoy the camaraderie. That's what it's about, coming together as a community."

mbaetens@detroitnews.com