"DRUNKen Donuts!"

“And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:” (Luke 10:8)

Some of my readers feel very strongly that I should only write about topics which are “Christian”, “spiritual”, or “religious”, and so I know those folks will be disappointed with my topic and even with my title. In any event, I’m a complex and diverse person, as are MOST people, and I have a very silly side and a side that very much enjoys life. Much of my silly and enjoying life sides are coming out today!

I think it was my father who used to call Dunkin’ Donuts “DRUNKen Donuts” so I’ve developed that same habit. I don’t think any institution is more “New England” than Dunkin’ Donuts. Interestingly enough, Dunkin’ Donuts’ world headquarters is located in the town where I grew up and graduated from high school- Canton, Massachusetts. Canton is a Boston suburb- it actually touches Boston’s Hyde Park section at its northernmost point.

Right now, Dunkin’ Donuts is celebrating their 60th anniversary. They’ve got special 60th anniversary stryofoam coffee cups displaying all of their logos of the past 60 years. I feel really old because I remember EVERY one of the logos! The original is the words Dunkin’ Donuts written out in script in neon lighting. It’s got a very “fifties” look ‘cause that’s exactly the era it’s from. The FIRST Dunkin’ Donuts was in Quincy, MA. I don’t remember that one, but ONE of the earliest D.D.’s was Dedham, MA at what USED to be known as “Dedham Rotary Circle”. That’s the first D.D.’s I remember. Somewhere around the late ‘60s they reconfigured Dedham Rotary Circle so that it’s no longer a rotary (in Massachusetts, we call “roundabouts” or “traffic circles” “ROTARIES”!). That D.D’s is still there after all these years. When I was a kid, my father would work holiday road enforcement with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. They’d get coffee and doughnuts at that Dunkin’s. In those days, the doughuts were BIG and heavy and filling. (About 6-7 years ago, the Dunkin’ Donuts got small and light. I wish they’d bring back the old doughnuts.) My favorite were vanilla cremes. In the old days, they were covered with granulated sugar like jelley doughnuts and had a huge gob of vanilla creme filling stuffed into the doughnut and bursting out of the doughnut. In the early ‘70s, they changed the vanilla creme doughnuts and started putting confectionary sugar on them, making them a little smaller, and putting a little less creme in them. They were still good but not quite as good. As much as my father could be very strict and authoritarian, he knew I loved Dunkin’ Donuts, and at times would drive to Route 28 in Randolph to get them. I was thrilled when a D.D. opened up on Route 138 in Stoughton, and when I was around 17, the first one opened in Canton!

Of course today, any Mass. community with 10,000 or more residents typically has at least 3 Dunkin’ Donut shops in it! Dunkin’ Donuts is very rare in Missouri. There are only 2 there. (Well, I think there may be one at the St. Louis airport, but I’m not counting that one.) One is in northern Missouri in St. Joseph, and one is in Branson. Everytime we go to Springfield, MO, we HAVE to drive to Branson to go to Dunkin’ Donuts. The locals out there DON’T go to D.D.! You’ll see a lot of license plates from the northeast in the Dunkin’ parking lot. Last time I was there, I saw a Monte Carlo with New Hampshire plates. The older couple in the car had that happy, “We FINALLY found a Dunkin’ Donuts!” look that only true New Englanders get. (Yes, the Branson D.D. is pretty much strictly for tourists from the northeast.)

If you look carefully at the Dunkin’ Donuts anniversary cup, there IS a Mister Donut logo. Dunkin’ bought out Mister Donut some years ago. When I first lived in Framingham, we had one Mister Donut on Route 9 which is now a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise. And, we DID have a Mister Donut shop in Springfield, Missouri when I was there in Bible College in the 1970s. I guess it just couldn’t make a go of it. Locals in the Ozarks would much rather have “biscuits and gravy” or “grits” for breakfast than coffee and doughnuts. Even so, there are a couple of Krispy Kreme’s there. I think Krispy Kreme has very good doughnuts, but their coffee tastes to me like MUD!

I’m one of those who thinks the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is not quite as good as it was 20 years ago. My friend Ed Delacoeur who pastors a Baptist church in Bourne on Cape Cod tells me their coffee has NOT gone down in quality, but that in the shops they DO make it a little bit more watery than they used to. Ed’s a real coffee purist and so he brews his own Dunkin’ Donuts coffee at home.

Yes, I remember EVERY Dunkin’ Donuts logo. I think I like the one from the ‘70 with the coffee mug and the block/circular lettering the best.

And, if you’re unhappy that this is strictly a secular posting, well, grab a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee (or decaf or hot chocolate) and just relax and enjoy it!