Mar 30, 2012

Cold Spring Local Notable: Leonora BurtonBy Erik OfgangChronogram.com

Cold Spring, NY – Leonora Burton says her business isn’t about making sales, it’s about making people smile. “If I can make one of my costumers laugh or smile I’m happy, and if I can make two of them laugh that’s even better,” she says.

Burton is the outgoing and sincerely friendly owner of The Country Goose and Highland Baskets in Cold Spring. The Country Goose is a restaurant and kitchen supply store and Highland Baskets sells popular custom-made gift baskets that are shipped all over the country. Burton’s store and her colorful character have long been fixtures of Cold Spring’s Main Street.

A native of Newport, Wales, Burton—who lives in Garrison—moved to the United States more than 40 years ago. At first she settled in New York with her husband and sons, but about 30 years ago her aging mother-in-law decided to come live with them. Her mother-in-law was in her late 80s and came from a very small village in Wales. “She would have not enjoyed the city,” says Burton. “We had to find a village where my husband could commute and where our five-year-old twin boys could go to school. We found Cold Spring.”

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