Donut Land turns into Pączki Land for Fat Tuesday

BRUNSWICK — Customers filled the lobby of Donut Land to place and pick up dozens of orders of pączki on Fat Tuesday. Donut Land creates homemade pączki in a variety of flavors during the days leading up to Ash Wednesday and has done so for many years. On Tuesday, customers wrote their orders on a piece of paper and waited to receive a call saying their order was ready because the pączki were being made fresh on a first-come, first-served basis. Customer Jennifer Wall said she bought pączki from Donut Land for Fat Tuesday last year as well and preferred this method of ordering. "My sister waited in line last year, and I met her up here with a coffee because I was freezing," she said. "I liked the process here a lot better now with taking your name and information. (It's) a lot quicker (and) more timely." Store operations manager Amanda Rienerth said this year Donut Land sold around 800 dozen pączki in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday. Then throughout Tuesday morning and early afternoon, orders continued to be made to the point where customers who came in at noon had around a five-hour wait. "We can't make them fast enough," Rienerth's daughter Malorie Kurilec said. "We're selling them too fast." Donut Land employee Danielle Pozek said making pączki is time intensive. For instance, each side needs to be fried for just over two minutes and cooled before the filling can be inserted. She said that although pączki week is stressful, she thinks working at Donut Land is an overall fun experience because of most of the customers that come in. Jan Valega was one of the many people who stopped by Donut Land on Tuesday to make an order. She said she has been a Donut Land customer for 40 years, but never tried their pączki before because she did not know they were sold here. "I gave up all sweets (for Lent), so this is going to be a treat," she said. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.