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Mardi Gras Brings Out The Crowds For Paczki Day

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mardi Gras is here, which means it's also Paczki Day, and a rush of hungry customers lining up at Chicago area bakeries for a taste of the decadent Polish pastries.

Paczki are a Polish tradition on Fat Tuesday. They started as a way to indulge in rich, sugary treats many Catholics give up during Lent, which starts the day after Fat Tuesday, on Ash Wednesday.

Antonella Silvio, manager of Maier's Bakery in Morton Grove, said they were making about 5,000 paczki on Monday, in preparation for the big crowds.

She said customers look forward to paczki every year.

"That's why we actually provide them a month before, and a month after, because people just can't get enough of them," she said.

What, exactly, are paczki?

"It's kind of like a Bismarck. It's sliced in half. It's got all this lovely filling; fruit, or butter cream, or Nutella, or whole bunches of stuff," bakery worker Pam Wolf said. "Then, on top, we put powdered sugar. So it's just a whole mouthful of fatty, rich goodness."

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Pete Palermo said he hasn't had a paczki in more than 20 years.

"I have a friend who I work with for many years, and he's of Polish ancestry. You know, he's going to buy me one, and he never brought it," he said.

Customer Julia Ernst said she only knows she likes them. She bought eight, mostly for friends at church, "and two for at home."

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