Three Suzy-Jo locations in Montgomery County will celebrate Fastnacht Day

BRIDGEPORT >> Every few years Fastnacht Day shows up in premature fashion, and 2018 is one of those times when we get to feast on those delectable, dunkers a little early.

With Fastnacht Day falling on Feb. 13, even devoted fans of the somewhat elusive, soft-bellied Pennsylvania Dutch pastries were caught by surprise, noted Ray Barkmeyer, co-owner of Suzy-Jo Donuts.

“It’s earlier than usual and people aren’t thinking about it,” Barkmeyer said on Monday at the flagship Bridgeport location, where he was preparing to join the rest of the fastnacht crew in rolling, cutting and deep-frying dozens of doughy squares.

“It’s a really big day for us when we get a lot of one-time customers and our regular customers. We did start getting orders over the weekend but when it’s this early people tend to not think about it.”

The family operation that dates back to 1955 and is now run by Barkmeyer, wife Joanne, daughter Amy Volpe and Amy’s husband Mike introduced the area to the hole-less confections more than 60 years ago, and is still considered by many to be the leading fastnacht purveyor this side of Lancaster County.

“As the years go by, fastnachts have become more popular with some bakeries jumping on the bandwagon,” Barkmeyer said. “It hasn’t affected us at all. We still have our loyal customers and get new ones every year, mostly through word of mouth.”

Also known as Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday and Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday is when the Pennsylvania Dutch, in anticipation of 40-odd days of Lenten denial, historically head for their pantries to purge the shelves of all the flour, sugar, butter and lard to combine these diet-busting ingredients into the confection known as the fastnacht (pronounced “faws-nahk,” translated from German the word means “night before the fast”).

“We stay away from lard,” Barkmeyer said, adding that the crew was planning to equal last year’s fastnacht amount. So there would be no problem meeting the needs of pre-orders and early walk-in fastnachters at all three Suzy-Jo locations: Bridgeport (49 E. Fourth St., opening at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday); East Norriton (205 W. Germantown Pike, opening 6 a.m.) and Royersford (301 N. Lewis Road, opening 6 a.m.), as well as customers of Corropolese Italian Bakery, 2809 Egypt Road, Audubon, which regularly takes care of the Lower Providence/West Norriton Suzy-Jo cravings by stocking the shop’s donuts daily.

Fastnachts are available in the traditional plain version, sugared, cinnamon-sugared and powder-sugared.

“A lot of people like to mix it up and get some of each kind,” said Barkmeyer, who said the price was the same as last year, $10.25 for a dozen.

“We’re due to raise prices again but trying to hold off as long as we can even though our costs go up every month,” he allowed.

As the last of the fastnachts were being snapped up on Tuesday, donut makers would already be well into a heart-shaped frame of mind, creating the popular pink-frosted Suzy-Jo treats for Wednesday’s Valentine’s Day customers.

“It’s crazy for us with Fastnacht Day and Valentine’s Day running into each other,” Barkmeyer said. “We go from one busy day right into another one.”