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National Donut Day has been celebrated on the first Friday in June ever since the day was set aside by The Salvation Army in 1938.

It commemorates the “Doughnut Dollies,” about 250 women members of the organization who volunteered to go to France during World War I to serve doughnuts to American soldiers fighting there.

The women set up shop in abandoned buildings near the front lines. This close proximity to soldiers provided men with an opportunity to enjoy a morale-boosting bite along with a hot cup of coffee and a friendly word from home.

The holiday comes close on the heels of Memorial Day; it’s a sweet way to wrap up a week spent honoring our country’s troops, past and present.

Back in 1917, doughnuts weren’t as prolific as they are today — more than 10 billion donuts are now made annually in the United States.

That number is mostly thanks to the wonders of automation and a donut making machine called the Krispy Automatic Ring-King Junior, invented in North Carolina by Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation entrepreneur Vernon Rudolph in the early 1950s.

Volume is partly the story: a super secret recipe developed by Joe LeBeau, a Frenchman from New Orleans, and sold along with the Krispy Kreme name to Rudolph’s uncle, Ishmael Armstrong, in Paducah, Kentucky, traces the origins of the company’s oil-bathed delicacies. Today, Krispy Kreme makes about 2 billion donuts annually.

Donuts or doughnuts — they’re fried dough that’s either extruded from a machine or shaped by hand from lengths of dough joined in a circle — aren’t exclusive to the United States.

The treat was likely brought to this country by Dutch colonists settling in New York (then New Amsterdam) in the early 1700s. Called “olykoek” or “oily cake,” the treat is mentioned by Washington Irving in 1809 in his book, “A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty.”

Variations on the donut are found in all corners of the globe, from India’s gulgula, a sweetened and deep-fried ball similar to a donut hole, to Nepali’s sel roti, a treat made from rice flour, mashed bananas, milk, butter and cardamom and fried in ghee. Finland has munkki, the French devour beignets, Greeks soak loukoumas in honey syrup and sprinkle them with cinnamon and grated walnuts, and in Tunisia, pastries shaped like doughnuts are called yo-yos.

The concept of sweetening fried dough is ubiquitous, no matter the language of the cook.

To celebrate the irresistible and diverse doughnut this Friday, here are a handful of sweet spots around the area:

4650 Signal Tree Drive, Bldg. A, Suite 1900, Timnath

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and  4:30 – 7:30  p.m. Wednesday and Thursday | 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday

Locally owned by chef Matt Smith and his wife, Nicole, Backyard Bird & Donuts serves donuts and chicken-centric breakfast offerings perched on house-made cheddar biscuits in the mornings, and fried chicken sandwiches the rest of the day. The two-pronged format made business sense for this location a stone’s throw from I-25. Smith’s donuts are 100% handcrafted, vegan and scratch-made with organic flour and are available in cake, raised, filled and donut hole versions. Check the website for monthly specials, like the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a raised donut topped with cereal milk glaze and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

1296 Main St., Unit A, Windsor

5 a.m. to Noon Monday through Saturday | 7 a.m. to Noon Sunday

Mr. Yo’s offers tiers of donuts, going from the most basic raised or cake donuts on Tier 1 to filled croissant donuts on Tier 6. In between, feast on Long Johns filled with Bavarian cream, white cream or raspberry, or make a tough choice between a red velvet cake donut with cream cheese and raised donuts sprinkled with s’mores, Kit Kats or Oreo cookie crumbles. Then there are the apple fritters, cinnamon rolls and maple bacon Long Johns, just to name a few. Whichever you select, Mr. Yo’s donuts are so light and airy, they’ll melt in your mouth. Get there early because they run out. The shop also serves breakfast croissants and sausage rolls.

Husband and wife team Leakhena and Chanthon Ean love making doughnuts because they said it’s fun to create sweet treats for all ages.

“We love seeing people smile when they walk through our door in the morning picking their favorite flavor,” Leakhena said.

Her husband, Chanthon, began making doughnuts over three years ago and enjoys experimenting with the concept’s flexibility. Along with raised donuts, the shop sells buttermilk bars — a rectangular shaped pastry — and offers custom order doughnut bouquets wrapped in color-coordinating tissue paper and tied with a bow. The house specialty is croissant doughnuts filled with sweet cream cheese or sweet mascarpone, topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Mr. Donuts will offer a free cup of coffee with any donut purchase on National Donut Day.

1503 8th Ave. and 4239 Centerplace Drive, Unit 1B, Greeley

The Centerplace location open daily from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Downtown location open daily from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Thursdays when the shop closes at 1 p.m.

Hospitable and locally owned, Winchell’s Donut House has been a Greeley staple for over 57 years. Owner Rami Batikha and his uncle, Samer Koudsi purchased the franchise in 2004, expanding into the Centerplace location in February 2020. Both Batikha and Koudsi learned how to make doughnuts while working for Winchell’s. Koudsi worked with the company for 30 years; Batikha started working there in 2000. Walk into either location and you’ll be met by the tantalizingly sweet smell of freshly made doughnuts, served with a smile. The shops also serve a variety of bagel sandwiches all day, with choices of breakfast fillings or deli meats, coffee drinks, fresh squeezed orange juice, tea and hot chocolate.

215 N. College Ave., Fort Collins

7 a.m. to  8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday |  7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Located in Old Town Fort Collins inside Scumpy’s Cider, FOCO DOCO’s robot fries up Colorado style donuts to order, offering scratch made classic goodies and rotating seasonal favorites with ingredients like Palisade peaches or locally harvested rhubarb. Donuts are hot from the fryer and feature a range of innovative flavors and toppings, from citrusy orange saffron to sweet and sassy lemon poppy. For cream donut lovers, FOCO Cream is the shop’s version of Boston Cream, drizzled with chocolate. If you don’t mind getting finger-licking sticky, try the German chocolate or cheesecake donuts, with cream cheese, graham cracker crust crumbles and a fresh fruit topping. Pair your donut with Harbinger coffee, Sherpa Chai or cider.

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