Harold’s Doughnuts has been stealing our hearts one pastry at a time since it first opened in January of 2015 in The District. Lately, the donut craftsmen over at the shop have been collaborating with other local restaurants to bring even sweeter concoctions to the menu. The bakery works with local businesses and events on the regular, so watch out, taste buds; it’s going to be a wild ride.

This year, Harold’s is a sponsor of the True/False film festival and will have a documentary-inspired doughnut bar for the occasion, where they will offer four craft cocktails from DogMaster Distillery. The shop will also be open 24 hours a day for the festival, offering fresh, hot doughnuts from 6 a.m. Thursday to 2 p.m. Sunday.

“We’ve sponsored it every chance we’ve had to do so,” Urban says. “It’s a festival that’s grown year after year after year; it’s a big deal now, so being a part of that energy — the city comes alive for it, so being a part of that is probably my favorite piece of it.”

Harold’s True/False doughnut bar features four quirky doughnuts inspired by different movie venues.

• The Rhynsburger is filled with hazelnut coffee pastry cream with vanilla almond and ganache drizzle and crushed ladyfingers.
• The 9th and Cherry is filled with cherry almond cream with vanilla almond drizzle, cherry compote and a dusting of almond oat streusel.
• The Missouri Theater is filled with chocolate, horchata and hazelnut coffee cream, drizzled with chocolate ganache with almond oat streusel and chocolate cake crumbs on top.
• The Ragtag is filled with horchata pastry cream, with buttermilk dulce de leche, crushed cookies and chocolate cake crumbs on top.

Some of the local businesses Harold’s has worked with include The Broadway Diner, Logboat Brewing Company, Cafe Berlin and 44 Stone. A recently successful result of the shop’s collaborative efforts can be found on 44 Canteen’s brunch menu every Sunday. They call it The Bennie: a split and grilled glazed doughnut that sandwiches eggs and bacon, creating a doughnut-egg benedict sort of sandwich. The shop has also created a hot doughnut sundae topped with Sparky’s ice cream and a chilli-cheese stretch doughnut with The Broadway Diner.

“We love what we do and primarily, (collaborating) is just a lot of fun,” owner Michael Urban says. “It allows us to expand our creativity and have fun with people that are fun-loving individuals like us. Columbia is a great town in terms of supporting local businesses, so any time we come together and do more of that, people are really receptive to it.”

Urban’s favorite collaborative creation so far has been one that’s not available to the public: a bacon cheeseburger sandwich with a glazed doughnut instead of a bun, courtesy of Booches.

Aside from all the fun and deliciousness, Urban says that the shop’s collaborations also give the young business good exposure. The new creations draw in customers from each shop to the other, an audience that oftentimes doesn’t overlap.

Harold’s also collaborates with local breweries for the shop’s doughnut bar (a fairly new, late-night option that allows customers to build their own doughnut however they want, getting to choose from a variety of fillings, glazes and toppings). The doughnut bar always has craft cocktails on the menu, too.

Harold’s definitely plans on collaborating with more local businesses in the future, and already has prospects of working with several distilleries in Missouri, such as Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City.