Thousands of paczki rolled out for Shrove Tuesday

Thousands of paczki are being prepared at Windsor's Blak's Bakery for Shrove Tuesday.

Blak's Bakery said it's made as many as 32,000 of the cream- or fruit-filled doughnut to celebrate the beginning of Lent.

The paczki, pronounced POONSH-key, is a traditional Polish pastry.

Extra staff, family members and even volunteers from high schools pitch in to make the rich, doughnut pastries.

This is the first year the family is making paczki without patriarch Peter Blak.

The 89-year-old died in January, following what the family maintains was a brutal attack last November.

Mystery death

Tony Blak said his father was hit on the head by an intruder during a robbery.

"He had injuries on two sides of his head," Blak said.

"So, of course, when you fall, you could only have injuries on one side of your head"

Police said Peter Blak could not recall being hit and cannot say whether his injuries were a result of an attack or a fall.

But Tony Blak said the medical evidence pointed to an assault from behind.

"The neurosurgeons thought for an injury that he had would have been like he had fallen off on a first or second story," he said.

No charges have ever be laid in the incident and police still say anyone with information that can solve the mystery can call Crime Stoppers or Windsor police.