PARMA, Ohio — Fat Tuesday celebrations took place throughout the day on Tuesday, and one in bakery in Northeast Ohio takes this day seriously. Rudy’s Strudel in Parma, owned by Lidia Trempe, hosted its annual “Paczki Day."

“It’s Paczki Day, it’s the last day of Carnival. So what we’re doing is we got to get all of the jellies, the jams and everything out so that we, cause we have six weeks of lent, we don’t want to be tempted,” she said.

Trempe said her favorite part of the day is how it brings the community together.

“It’s about what everybody’s done. Not just me and my staff, but the community coming out and doing this. It’s like this, I don’t know, it’s like this huge gesture of love for ethnicity and just a day to be like ‘yay’,” she said.

Troy Bratz, a community member, has been coming to Paczki Day for years.

“I’ve been coming here with high school friends ever since the mid 90’s,” he said.

He was in line before the bakery even opened Tuesday morning to get paczkis, which are polish filled donuts.

“My kids really like the Hough bakery one and I’m an old man so I like end up doing the prune ones,” he said.

Polka music filled the bakery and people filled their stomachs with paczkis and it reminded Trempe why she loves this day.

“It’s become this amazing tradition that means the world to me,” she said.