The economy here really is locally based

By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Residents of Eatonville take pride in the fact that they aren't dependent on a large city.

The town boasts two grocery stores -- the aroma of homemade beef jerky being smoked at the Eatonville Market is downright incredible -- and just about every other kind of shop you would want. There's even a place to get your poodle groomed.

What makes the town different is that almost none of the stores are run by chains. They are locally owned and operated. And many of them are unique.

Rebecca Weaver runs one of them.

The sign in front of her Washington Avenue shop has her name and nothing else. Weaver figures that says it all because she is a weaver. Tucked in a tiny house next to the home where she lives, Weaver's shop is filled with hand-woven material, knitted sweaters, custom-made rugs and spinning yarn.

"It's an eclectic business," says Weaver, whose last name was Rotter before she decided to change it to reflect her profession several years ago. "Actually, it's more of a lifestyle."

Weaver grew up on a farm, raising and shearing her own sheep to get the wool for her creative endeavors. She no longer raises her own sheep, though. "Sooner or later you have to focus," she says. But she still gets much of her wool from local sheep. "People have to shear them regardless of whether they are in the business."