COEUR d'ALENE - Ah, why not?

If there's a day for machines, a day for Paul Bunyan, and one for dictionaries, there should be one for food buffets, tortilla chips and doughnuts.

There are.

There are?

It turns out, no day is alone these days, and every single day on the calendar has a food dedicated to it, plus whatever else it has been given.

And Friday, besides Repeat Day, which is 24 hours dedicated to aid consumers, it was National Doughnut Day. To celebrate, the Donut House on Kathleen Avenue gave away pastries to anyone who walked in its doors, even to people who had no idea.

"Why not?" said Bill Goodwin, eating a free twist. "They got a day for everything else."

What a way to celebrate the third day of June, which is adopt-a-shelter-cat month, American rivers month ...

"I never heard of it before this," said May Moreland, leaving the store with a freebie.

And her reaction?

"It was pretty surprising."

But some people did know. And they lined up at the shop before 6 a.m. and kept a steady stream until 10:30 a.m. or so.

By late morning, that shop had given away and sold more than 100 dozen doughnuts, or a million bazillion calories worth.

"I had no idea," said Lauri Larson, Donut House worker, who didn't know about free pastry day for less than a year, and was swamped the first time she had to work it Friday. After all, this wasn't National Apricot Day (April 9).

Really good, wonderful, delicious, said the eaters inside the shop.

"They're really warm," said Marcel Dunning, and not about apricots.

Repeat Day, by the way, is when you buy something you keep the receipt, then later show that receipt and get a free something.

But back to doughnuts, Jitterz coffee stand on Northwest Boulevard was giving away free coffee. By mid-afternoon, they had given away $2,000 in free cups. Actually, it wasn't so the doughnut lovers would have something in which they could dunk their free prize, but because they were named the best coffee shop around in the North Idaho Business Journal.

"We appreciate them," said owner Laura Quast, on the way her business said thank you.

Maybe someone should devote a day to that, too.