[UPDATE: Krispy Kreme finally opens in Auburn]
AUBURN — Have you ever wanted free doughnuts enough to wait in line … overnight … during a Maine winter?
Josh Fogg of Turner has. He was the first in line for Krispy Kreme’s grand opening on Center Street in Auburn, starting his wait at 3 p.m. Sunday. The dedication won him a dozen free glazed donuts every week for a year.
He said he was just doing it for the doughnuts.
“I had them in Saco for the first time in 10 or 15 years,” Fogg said.
His mother was waiting in the car for him, and she was getting something, too. The first person in line also gets to turn on the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign for which Krispy Kreme is famous.
He let his mom turn on the sign.
“I’m in it for the doughnuts,” he said, “and she’s in it for the switch.;”
The only other people in line as of 8:30 p.m. Sunday were a group of friends from Leavitt High School who just wanted to prove they could wait in line.
Paige Maheaux, 17, Justin Cadrel, 18, and Ryan Pratt, 17, all of Turner, joined the line about 6:30 p.m.
They said it was mostly to make their friends jealous and prove to a teacher they could do it.
The teens were supplied with a tent, portable space heater and a laptop for movies for “when it gets really cold tonight,” Pratt said.
Although they do not have school Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pratt and Cadrel both have ski practice at 8 a.m.
The Center Street location was scheduled to open in 2017, but the date was pushed back to January 2018.
Krispy Kreme held an invitation-only, pre-opening party Sunday at the Auburn store to celebrate, and announced online that it will be handing out prizes throughout the week.
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