Know Your Madisonian: Laundromat owner Mark Lessner adjusts during pandemic journaltimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journaltimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
If youâve visited a laundromat on Madisonâs East Side over the last two decades, chances are you may have washed your clothes at one of Mark Lessnerâs establishments.
Lessner, 54, first started out in the laundromat business when he was about 10 years old helping his dad, who owned several businesses in Madison. About 23 years ago, Lessner became an owner himself and eventually purchased a few of his fatherâs businesses upon the elderâs retirement.
Currently, Lessner owns and operates two Wash Basket laundromats â located on Atlas and Atwood avenues â and East Wash Laundry near East Washington Avenue and Milwaukee Street, along with a laundromat in Edgerton. Up until it recently closed, Lessner operated Schenkâs Corner near Winnebago and Second streets.
RICHMOND â Balderdash Cellars, the winery relocated from a Pittsfield commercial building basement to a 25-acre farm just south of the city line, near Richmond Pond, has won conditional approval from the Select Board to renovate a deteriorated barn on the property to host events, primarily indoors, including music.
As one of a mere handful of businesses in the rural town, Balderdash and its owners, Christian and Donna Hanson, have been welcomed warmly by many residents. But, some others, particularly residents of the nearby lake, have objected to noise from outdoor entertainment events.
In addition to the barn, the property purchased in spring 2018 for $475,000 includes a new 5,000-square-foot, two-level tasting room/wine-making facility that can hold 100 visitors, and a farmhouse with a basement brewery. Hanson has explained his move to the bucolic setting by pointing out that âpeople who come to this area often come from the city, and they donât want to go back to