Hole Foods

Attention customers of The Donut Parade: You don’t have to get your raised glazed in a twist anymore. Master doughnut maker Darrell Jones is back in his kitchen after spending seven weeks recuperating from a bacterial infection.

The longtime owner of the landmark at 2152 N. Hamilton St. returned to work about three weeks ago. However, his signature calorie buster, the maple bar, hasn’t returned yet. And the regulars are growing restless.

“They were asking for maple bars every day,” said Christian Reno, who has worked the counter for 14 years. “It was like going to Kentucky Fried Chicken without the chicken.”

Much more significant was the absence of Jones.

Jones got sick on March 11, the same week he tripped on a box in his shop’s dank basement. He scraped his right arm and face and applied some disinfectant.

Two days later, he was making his first batch of cake doughnuts, feeling fine for a 77-year-old man who goes to work around 3:30 a.m., five days a week.

“At 5, I got the chills,” Jones said. “Thirty minutes after that, I couldn’t walk.”

Reno drove Jones to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center while he lay still in the back seat.

A blood culture determined that Jones had an invasive streptococcus blood infection. Jones said it was safe to assume he was exposed to the infection through the open wounds caused by his fall. It all made sense since the infection’s incubation period is one to three days.

“I was sicker than hell,” said Jones, who remained hospitalized for a week with extreme nausea and weakness. He recuperated at his Summit Boulevard home for another six weeks.

But business marched on at 37-year-old The Donut Parade, where its most loyal customers are retired men with time and opinions on their hands.

Jones’ wife, Kathy, and their daughter, Susy Teague, ran the business and kept a steady flow of cake doughnuts available every weekday until around 2 p.m. It is not unusual for family members to work the shop, but they usually stick to the basics among Jones’ 16 varieties.

Jones, who first worked as a doughnut maker outside his native home in Durham, N.C., gradually came back to work. His more time-consuming recipes, such as the maple bars, still are on hold while Jones regains his strength.

“Some of the customers were a little frantic we didn’t have maple bars,” Jones said. “I didn’t have the strength to make them. There’s a lot of muscle work involved. Rolling dough is hard work.”

Jones, who said he “retired” seven years ago, has been reassuring his customers the state of his business is status quo. With four children, nine granddaughters and seven grandsons in his family pool, it’s likely maple bars will remain a staple of Spokane.