For Immediate Release
Amy Ashbridge
432-1000, Ext. 213
(800) 721-1000, Ext. 213
aashbridge@thedailystar.com
www.thedailystar.com

Baker Looks To Hit Home Run With Cookies

Company Works With Pathfinder Village To Make Baseball Treats

Cooperstown, N.Y., October 21, 2004—A cookie will get its premiere this weekend at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

The Cooperstown Cookie Company™ has started making shortbread cookies in the shape of baseballs, and the first public tastes will be available at special events throughout the weekend, said Pati Drumm Grady, company owner.

"I have been a consummate baker for a long time," Drumm Grady said last week. "I thought somebody ought to make shortbread in the form of baseballs."

Using a family recipe for shortbread that only uses natural ingredients, Drumm Grady came up with a round shortbread cookie that looks like a baseball — complete down to the stitching.

"It’s totally the opposite of a low-carb food," Drumm Grady said. "It’s a substantial cookie."

The cookie weighs 1.5 ounces and can be broken in three parts where the stitching is imprinted, she said.

Cooperstown Cookie Company™ is a collaborative community project, Drumm Grady said.

The bakery at Pathfinder Village in Edmeston will do all the baking and eventually package the product as well, she said.

"I proposed my idea of Pathfinder Village making these cookies and help me develop it as a company," Drumm Grady said. "I gave him (Edward Shafer, the Pathfinder chief executive officer) cookies to taste, and I think that was enough."

Drumm Grady said she would give part of the profits to Pathfinder Village once the company reached the point of being profitable.

"This venture is a unique opportunity for us to build our bakery business to the benefit of our residents, and continue our long history of collaborating with local enterprises and organizations," Shafer said.

Local artists Lonni Sue Johnson and Bruce Guyot contributed art for the tins and inserts, Drumm Grady said. Johnson illustrated the label and inserts, and Guyot made the design.

Drumm Grady is receiving assistance in getting the company started.

"I had never brought a food product to market before," she said. "I really want to do this right."

The Otsego County Board of Representatives agreed to give the venture a $13,500 microeconomics loan earlier this month.

Drumm Grady said she started developing the company late this spring.

"It’s been a pretty big undertaking," she said. "I felt I was filling a real void here."

Chances to taste the cookie will come during the eighth annual World Series Gala at the Hall of Fame on Saturday night and at the Doubleday Cafe between 10 a.m. and noon Sunday.

The cookie — available in packages of six and 12 — will be available from the company’s website, the Hall of Fame gift shop and by calling the company, Drumm Grady said.

"For the short run, we’re concentrating on the local market," she said. "We hope we can go beyond that."

###