GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) — On any given day at Uncle Mike’s Bake Shoppe, Kringle is king; but on Fat Tuesday, it’s all about Paczkis and King Cakes.
“I’ve always heard about them and I’m Catholic so we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to be in Green Bay so we can get some,'” Debra Kruger of Townsend said.
She wasn’t the only first-timer lining up for the Polish pastries.
“I’ve just been waiting to try the paczkis,” Courtney Behrandt of Green Bay said. “I said, ‘I’m going to Uncle Mike’s and I’m going to try it for the first time,’ because everybody else talks about how great they are.”
Paczki day itself is something to look forward to, but at the Green Bay Diocese, they’ll tell you Fat Tuesday is actually all about looking ahead.
“It’s in anticipation of what will come tomorrow, which is Ash Wednesday,” Father John Girotti, a Vicar at the Diocese of Green Bay explained, “the beginning of the season of Lent.”
Lent is a period of 40 days leading up to Easter, starting with Ash Wednesday.
“Ash Wednesday, for us as Catholics, Catholics are typically fasting on that day,” Father Girotti said.
That’s the game plan for some of the Uncle Mike’s patrons.
“I’ll be fasting tomorrow,” Kruger said.
That means that a seasonal goodie is in order.
“This will be a special treat that I hope to share with the rest of my family,” she said. “That’s the reason we got a dozen.”
A dozen sweet treats to reflect over.
“What matters is what’s going on inside of our hearts,” Father Girotti said. “We’re preparing ourselves to be reflective.”
