Calumet Bakery Crew Worked 24-Hour Shifts to Make 42,000 Paczki

SOUTH DEERING — By mid-afternoon on Paczki Day, Calumet Bakery's Luis Rojas was exhausted, and still frying up dough with his crew.

Over the last few days, Rojas kept the 85 year-old bakery's 24-hour Paczki-making operation at 2510 E. 106th St. rolling to prepare for and keep up with the Southeast Side's voracious pre-lent appetite.

The Calumet Bakery crew shaped, fried, sliced and stuffed more than 42,000 traditional Polish treats — pillowy soft donuts packed with custard, fruit and cheese, and sprinkled with powdered sugar — devoured en mass by locals on the paczki's namesake holiday.

"My guys say they've been at it for 70 hours this weekend. It's a lot of hours. And I know if I let them leave, there's a chance they won't come back.," Rojas said, offering a tired chuckle. "And, you know, I get here before them and leave after them. So, I went home for couple hours to sleep before the ended their shift at 4 a.m."

Rojas, who everybody calls "Duck," grew up a few blocks away from Calumet Bakery, where he's worked since 1993. He says got the nickname embroidered on his apron for being a twitchy kid who "spun around in a circle every time a car drove by" — and it stuck.

A couple hours before closing on Fat Tuesday, Rojas summed up the annual marathon paczki-making session at Calumet Bakery, which also has locations in suburban Lansing and Whiting, Ind., in a word.

"Hell," Rojas said, laughing. "But what can I say, I love what I do."