The owner of a Windsor bakery is making a big change this year for Paczki Day.
Tony Blak, the owner of Tony Blaks Union Bakery on Tecumseh Road East, he has decided to cancel his paczki promotion for 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shrove Tuesday is on Feb. 16.
Blak says it's usually the busiest day of the year for his bakery but made the decision for the health and safety of the community, his family, staff and customers.
He says the virus has taken away some of his family members and friends.
"We have friends that work in the medical field here in Windsor and we looked at, what could we do in our little part to try to do something positive against this pandemic that we're in," says Blak.
He says it's the right decision to hold off this year's promotion.
"The way that the world is right now, I don't want to be responsible for bringing bringing a crowd of people together," says Blak. "I don't want them to be waiting in line and waiting in my store and it's just not a right time to have that type of a celebration in my opinion."
Even though the traditional celebration is cancelled, he says the bakery is still making a limited number of paczkis leading up to Feb. 16.
"We're not taking any orders," says Blak. "There's no phones. We don't expect a lot of people to line up here that I think probably on paczki day maybe if I make probably 20 or 30 dozen that would be all that I plan to be making."
Blak says over the past couple of years, the bakery has been making more than 1,000 dozens on paczki day.