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Family Travel
Beyond Cooperstown
Howe
Caverns in Cobleskill, NY, features an 80-minute tour of a living,
limestone cave, carved by an underground
river over the course of millions of years, located 156-feet below the
earth's surface!
Cooperstown For
Your Parents' Special Getaway
Parents
need their own special time together, too. read about why Cooperstown
can be a special getaway for Mom and Dad!
The
Adventures of Goldilocks O'Brien
 These original kids bedtime
stories feature lots
of
laughs while giving your family a detailed tour of Cooperstown through
Goldilock's adventures!
Read
the Adventures of Goldilocks O'Brien in Cooperstown
A
Cooperstown for
Kids Feature Presentation
Cooperstown
family travel and classic baseball videos can be viewed
on
every page of this site (after each article, excluding the homepage)!
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WHAT A SWEET PLACE!
Cooperstown
features bakeries and ice cream storefronts to please the sweetest tooth
Schneider's Bakery, at the
corner and Main and Chestnut Sts. (photo by Eric J. Hurwitz)
Cooperstown,
NY, is one sweet place!
 It's
sweet not only as a tourist destination, but as a place where you'll
find plenty of tasty snacks and desserts at local bakeries and ice
cream shops, and a very special local online company that makes
delicious "baseball cookies! The details:
Schneider's
Bakery, 157 Main St., Cooperstown,
Tel. 607-547-9631 -- Since 1887, Schneiders' has been
serving Cooperstown some of
the tastiest baked good in the entire universe (not that we were around
in 1887; purely speculation)! Every year we visit Cooperstown, we  make
sure to buy some moon pies, cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies and
homemade donuts at Schneider's. We love the old-fashioned
feel of
the bakery and the big picture window where you can see the bakers in
action. There was a time that every town seemed to have a bakery like
Schneider's. That's sadly no longer the case, so we're glad places like
Schneider's are still around to supply us with warm memories of our
childhood, along with all the baked goods that were such a staple of
growing up in a small town.
 Carmen
Esposito's Italian Ices, Main, St, Cooperstown, NY -- Carmen
Esposito's Italian Ices offers the best of frozen treats
--soft
servce ice cream, smoothies, gelati and Italian ices. On a
hot
summer day, Carmen Esposito's saves the day with a convenient Main
Street location and some flavors that will have you coming back for
more on the same day -- lemon Italian ice, and root beer gelati are my
all-time favorites!
Fly
Creek Cider Mill and Orchard, 288 Goose
St., Fly Creek, NY,
Tel. 607-547-9692
--
The
Fly Creek Cider Mill is a water-powered cider mill in nearby Fly Creek
that offers delicious apple cider, specialty foods and gifts,
but  they also have a wonderful bakery with delicious homemade pies, an
amazing "colossal cinnamon bun," frozen cider drinks, ice cream,
and the most amazing cider donuts you'll ever have!
Sweet
Success Stories
Pati Drumm Grady finds recipe for job satisfaction at the Cooperstown
Cookie Company
by
Eric J. Hurwitz
(COOPERSTOWN,
NY) -- The Cooperstown Cookie Company, in Cooperstown, NY, is not your
typical cookie-cutter business.
Bringing
together the love of two American obsessions -- cookies and baseball--
the Internet-based Cooperstown Cookie Company has become a sweet success
story
not only for its variety of delicious
baseball-themed
cookies, but for its commitment to helping people with disabilities.
Pati
Drumm Grady, 57, and a long-time Cooperstown, NY, resident, started the
business from "scratch" in 2004 baking cookies out of her home in
Springfield Center, NY. Using a family recipe, Grady launched the
Cooperstown Cookie Company also in 2004 at the National Baseball Hall
of Fame and Museum World Series Gala offering the "all-American"
all-natural classic baseball shortbread cookies to the delight of local
residents and tourists.
The
Cooperstown Cookie Company comes after years of Grady living and
working in many parts of the world. She has lived in Cooperstown twice,
first as a graduate student at the Cooperstown Graduate Program in 1973
and as a staff photographer and a member of the New York State
Historical Association Education Department from 1974-1976. After
living in Vienna, Brussels and Belgium for seven years, Grady returned
to Cooperstown as a single parent with three children in 1992. She met
her husband, Kevin, a fourth generation Cooperstown native in 1993.
They married in 1996 and, together, have five children. Kevin is the
founder and co-owner of the Doubleday Cafe.
It
took many years, but the thought of creating a baseball cookie in a
community famous for baseball seemed like a potentially special
business, according to
Grady.
"I
did not really think too long or hard about starting this business,
"said Grady. "One day it occurred to me that no one had (from
Cooperstown or anywhere) ever made a baseball cookie and, so, I pursued
the idea further. After approximately six to eight months
planning, researching and consulting with industry experts, I decided
to move forward to 'put legs onto the idea'."
"I
woke up a lot during the night thinking a lot of how to start a
business with baseball cookies. Since we are in Cooperstown, the
business was a natural."
The
question was, "how to make a baseball cookie," since Grady could not
find a baseball cookie cutter.
"The
first baseball cookies were made in my kitchen using a glass to cut a
round circle in rolled out shortbread dough," said Grady. "I
then
used a pastry crimper to draw 2 inverted "C" shapes in the
dough.
The baseball cookie was officially born. I then
approached
a local tinsmith to create a prototype hand cutter. That
evolved
into a multiple hand cutter which is still used to hand make every
cookie."
The
cookies come in four flavors: Classic Shortbread, Boys of Summer Lemon
Shortbread, Mudville Mudball Chocolate Chip Shortbread, and All Star
Almond
Shortbread;
and two sizes: Regulation Baseball Size or bite-sized "Bunts." The
Cooperstown Cookie Company also features Amish-made milk and white
chocolate baseball caps.
Local
support has been tremendous as the National Baseball Hall of Fame,
Doubleday Cafe, Stagecoach Coffee, Brewery Omegang, Straws and Sweets,
the Cooperstown General Store and Cooperstown Natural Foods sell the
baseball cookies. On an international level, the New York Times,
Sporting News, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Town &
Country
and Japan Times have featured the Cooperstown Cookie Company.
Last summer, the cookies were featured on the Food Network's popular
program, "Unwrapped" and as the "Snack of the Day" on the Rachael Ray
Show.
"We've
put our heart and soul into this (business)," said Grady. "The
recognition has been very nice."
Pathfinder
Village, a residential community in Edmeston, NY, dedicated to adults
and children with Downs Syndrome, assists with production by
developing,, bagging and packaging the cookie mix. The Cooperstown
Cookie Company shares a portion of its profits with Pathfinder Village.
Human Technologies Corporation
(HTC),
of Utica, NY, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives
of those with disabilities and other disorders, packs the cookie tins
and fills all orders.
"We
have great relationships with Pathfinder and Human Technologies," said
Grady. "It feels great to reach out to the community. It's not just
about baking cookies."
Grady,
who runs the company out of her barn overlooking beautiful Lake Otsego,
has some terrific support, in addition to Pathfinder and HTC. DeIorio's
Frozen Food Products,Bakery, a bakery in Utica, NY, went beyond its
Italian pizza dough specialization by producing the baseball cookies at
a faster pace. This was essential as Grady-- previous to having
DeIorio's come on board -- had to turn down the New York Yankees
requesting 19,000 cookies for a Mother's Day promotion. Happily, the
enhanced production capabilities were able to accommodate the Yankees
next request for 2,400 cookie favors for a season's opener dinner.
Grady
has tapped into a network of extremely talented local professionals to
enhance the business. Key alliances to the Cooperstown Cookie Company
include Shelly Freyn, who has a food science degree from Cornell
University and 15 years food science work experience, including Mrs.
Field's; Lonni Sue Johnson, an award winning illustrator (including
five New Yorker covers), pilot and a local organic dairy farmer whose
art talents have helped create a colorful business image; David
Depperman, a food scientist, entrepreneur and the former regional
director of the the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) arm of
the Small Business Administration: and Peg
Odell
who works on marketing and public relations. Kathleen
Gozigian
and Kim Lierheimer provide integral sales, customer service and order
processing "back office" roles in the business.
Grady
concludes that she loves her current profession -- the art and science
of baking and, ultimately, creating a business that brings daily
satisfaction.
"I'm
proud of this small business that seems to be growing every day."
Visit
the Cooperstown Cookie Company Web Site to browse its products and to
order online. Mention code VCDC and receive $1 off your order
of
$15 or more.
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THE
COOPERSTOWN ONLINE MOVIE THEATER
Featuring
Cooperstown travel videos and classic baseball clips to get you in the
Cooperstown spirit!
All videos are rated G for the whole family to enjoy!
This page features a tour of cider making at the Fly Creek Cider Mill:
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