The Fine Art of Family Magazine

Visit Burns Cowboy Shop in Park City, Utah (map)

Meet Danna Burns Shaw

Find Lots of luxury leather goods with an authentic Western flair. Owner Danna works with Lucchese Boot and the world’s finest silversmiths to design unique, high-quality footwear, accessories, jewelry and clothing, plus vintage hand-distressed Stetson hats and a $75,000 saddle. The shop also carries the leather and silver work of local artists.

The Backstory Burns Cowboy Shop is the newest retail venture of Danna Burns, the fifth generation owner of the country’s oldest continuously family-owned Western business, Burns Saddlery. First founded by Miles Lamonie Burns in 1876, Burns Saddlery’s original clientele ranged from mostly cowboys and ranchers to the occasional outlaw who rode through town, including Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch. Nowadays, Danna still deals with local horsemen looking to repair saddles and equipment as well as Sundance Film Festival stars and tourists, who swing by looking for a pair of genuine cowboy boots.

Together with her husband, Scott, Danna opened this lifestyle boutique in November 2008, while their son, Braydan Shaw, a sixth generation owner, manned the anchor company as president. Their daughter, Destiny Crane, is the president of Harmonic Health, the Burns’ alternative medicine practice.

“Any of our family members can be involved if they want to, but it’s not a birthright,” Danna says. “You have to work for it and show you’re a contributor.” Makes sense coming from someone who worked her way up, starting out with menial tasks, such as putting horseshoe nails in packets, as a child. Now she designs almost all the boots in her shop.

With multiple generations working on several Burns’ business ventures (more than the three mentioned above!), there can be difficulties, but still the family remains tight. “It requires extra emotional muscle to work side-by-side, but if you can pull it off and work together, it’s so rewarding,” Danna says. Her mother, Donna, who is in her mid-70s, works every day on the manufacturing of the Indian Blanket Seat Covers. With a laugh, Danna says, “People ask me when I’m going to retire, but how do you retire when your mom is still working here?”

[Photographs courtesy of Danna Burns]

Published on February 16, 2010

Tags: Capturing, Collections, Family, Fashion, Find This, Go Here, Travel