By JON BAKER

PAWTUCKET — If you’re Italian or Sicilian, you may or may not know the meaning of St. Joseph’s Day, celebrated every year on March 19.

Sandra Bachini-Gaboriault has her own version of the holiday story, one explained to her as a little girl growing up in the city.
“My grandmother — Lena Ogni Bachini — used to tell me that, as legend had it, there was a terrible drought in Sicily a long time ago, during the Middle Ages, and that townspeople from all over would pray to St. Joseph (regarded by many to be Sicilians’ patron saint) to end it,” she said. “Evidently, those people said (in their prayers) that, if he gave them rain, they would honor him with a festival day all to himself, and they also would prepare a dessert in his name for that holiday. According to my grandmother, it would be called ‘zeppole.’
“The rains came, and those people honored that promise; that’s why we, as a family, celebrate it the way we do,” she added. “I loved hearing that story.”
The holiday means much more now to Bachini-Gaboriault, co-owner of Bachini’s Bakery, located at 345 York Ave. In a word, it’s called “income” for a renowned family business that has spanned 70 years.
Together with her brothers, Charles Jr. and John, not to mention cousin Michael Nardi, the family hopes to sell over 2,000 zeppoles on March 18-19, all at a bargain price of 99 cents each.
If you’re not an Italian or Sicilian Catholic, you may never have heard of such a delectable treat. Turns out, it’s a doughnut-like pastry filled with vanilla cream and topped off with a marischino cherry. That’s what the Bachinis call their “traditional” zeppole.
But they also make two other varieties, including one rum-flavored and the other a more sophisticated type called “baker’s cream.”
“My favorite is the rum, but, unfortunately, it’s only rum-flavored,” Bachini-Gaboriault laughed. “The shell remains the same, but it’s filled with a rum/vanilla cream and topped with a powdered sugar, and, of course, the cherry.
“Now the Baker’s cream, that’s like a mystery zeppole, and, no we won’t give out the recipe,” she continued with a chuckle. “My brother, Charlie, followed a recipe from our father, Charlie Sr., years ago, and he came up with this white, light, fluffy cream, and it’s delicious, but I still like the rum.
“I think the original concept was that a zeppole was made of fried dough with sugar; as the years progressed, they slowly changed. Some bakeries still deep-fry the dough, but we bake them. That’s the difference. I will say it’s a healthier way to prepare them.”
Still, as much as they all adore this day, she admitted the family will be mighty busy at the bakery over the next three-plus weeks. The reason: St. Patrick’s Day, as always, is on March 17, while St. Joseph’s Day falls on the 19th and Easter Sunday the 23rd.
“It’s been a long time since all three have been so close together -- it’s been a good 14 or 15 years anyway,” Bachini-Gaboriault sighed while standing next to a wooden work table where all sorts of breads and pastries will be prepared. “We’ll survive with humor and good ol’ fashioned Italian ingenuity … My brothers and I have been running this place for 10 years now, and we’ve never seen a schedule like this -- the one we’ll have to follow.
“I know I’ll be here at 3 a.m. on the 19th (a Wednesday), and I won’t leave until at least 7 p.m.,” she added. “After all, we’re going to have a lot of cleanup. You have to remember, this is Pawtucket, and it began with a lot of Italian immigrants. They’re going to have to be at work early, and they know that our bakery opens at 6 a.m. I will say this: Whatever customers want, we’ll have things ready.”
Before the zeppoles hit the massive oven in the bakery’s back room, they’re going to have to satisfy the demand of St. Patrick’s Day celebrants. On March 12 or so, they will begin preparation of Irish soda breads, Shamrock-shaped cookies and “anything else that’s green.
“We’ll make cupcakes and green frost for doughnuts -- you name it,” she offered. “Restaurants already have started calling with orders for the Irish soda bread. My brother Charlie is a whiz with the breads and rolls, while Michael is our pastry chef. He can make anything, including what he calls a pineapple upside-down cake.
 “As for John, well, he can do anything. John can watch the oven and know when to pull out the trays. There is no clock; he just knows..We all have our specialties.”
The Bachini family won’t have much time after a sellout of the zeppoles on March 19th to ready itself for the Easter onslaught.
In the wee hours of Thursday, March 20, all -- including Bachini-Gaboriault’s daughters (Sara, a sophomore at Rhode Island College, and Danielle, 15, a sophomore at St. Raphael Academy) -- will begin readying the ingredients for Eastsr treats. Among them: Breads, “Bunny” cakes and shortbread cookies in the shape of chicks, rice and custard pies and “tiramasu” (call it Italian cheesecake made with rum and mascapone cheese).
The natural question for Bachini-Gaboriault was this: How did this business come to be?
She noted that her great-uncle opened “Bachini’s Bakery” in Central Falls way back in 1938. Her grandfather, Ezio Bachini Sr., had been a baker in the Army during World War I.
“When Ezio came to this country, he was OK (as far as immigration authorities were concerned), as he had an uncle who was operating a bakery; he had work with a relative,” she said. “They moved it to a place on Division Street in about 1941-42, and they ran the business there until 1958, when it was moved here to York Avenue. When my grandfather died in 1966, my father, Charles M. Bachini Sr. took over, and we’ve been here ever since. He retired in 1998, and that’s when his children took over.
“My dad still helps out with cooking and things like that,” she added. “He’ll fill in if someone’s sick, and he loves it. In fact, he and I started working on a new fruitcake recipe a few months ago for Christmas. We made 10 of them, and they were fabulous.
“Come St. Joseph’s Day, the entire family will be here to pitch in, lend a helping hand. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, but that’s what we’re all hoping for. That’s are mission, to get to the bakery really early and make sure everyone is satisfied.”