Southwestern Pennsylvania has many holiday traditions, and New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are no exception.

For as long as anyone can remember, pretzels have been a part of welcoming in the new year.

When it comes to where to get those pretzels, one place in Pittsburgh stands out -- and Barry Pintar went there on their busiest day of the year.

At The Pretzel Shop along East Carson Street on Pittsburgh's South Side, it was a busy New Year's Eve, packed with people walking in and out of the store all day long. 

The shop had a long list of pre-orders so that customers could get their traditional pretzels as people came from all across the region to fulfill their annual New Year's tradition. 

"It's our tradition, we follow them all year round, and this is what our fifth year of coming up here to get a pretzel for New Year's Eve," said Kathy Granato. 

In the back of the busy shop, the dough is mixed, thrown onto a conveyor belt, shaped into pretzel form, dunked into steaming water, and oven-fired. 

Pretzel after pretzel, all shapes and sizes, done the old-world way. 

"We'll make over 300 of the New Year's ones," said Jaimy Gallagher, owner of The Pretzel Shop. "The big New Year's ones, we'll make about 300 of those, and we'll make probably close to 4,000 of the regular pretzels."

The most common New Year's pretzel is huge, usually covered in icing and sprinkles, and then taken home to eat. But there's a right way to eat it if you want the New Year's luck that comes with it. 

I"t's supposed to be good luck to break a pretzel on New Year's," Gallagher said. "You're supposed to break it, not cut it. You're supposed to break it, not rip it, so. I'm not sure where it came from, but it's definitely gotten bigger over the years."

"It's supposed to bring you good luck in the new year," said Rosalie McFadden. "So, since we're here five years in a row, it must be bringing us good luck."

"It's a tradition for families to come here and stand out there in the crowd today and wait," Gallagher said. "We'll get to a point where everyone will have to wait for it, because he's only one person. The oven only goes so fast, you know. It's an old oven, it's not that fast."

While the tradition might be sketchy in terms of what exactly you're supposed to do with the New Year's Eve pretzel, most said they eat it at night, some right at midnight, but one person said what you're really supposed to do is eat it with your pork on New Year's Eve.

But remember, break it, don't cut it, if you want that New Year's good luck.