A Main Street Christmas

Shoppers from across the nation – and right here at home – are discovering the pleasures of shopping in Dayton.

Story by Ken Graham

At Jacci's Yarn Basket in downtown Dayton, you can buy yarn from wool produced all over the world. Shelves lining the walls of the store hold yarns from Switzerland, Iceland, Uruguay, Peru and Australia. And yarn from New Hampshire, Nebraska and Oregon can also be found there.

Store owner Jacci Wooten says one of her most popular items is a ball of multi-colored yarn that makes patterned socks – automatically. "You just start knitting and the stripes and patterns magically appear," she says. You never know for sure what you'll get until you start knitting.

Early last summer, a lady from Maryland, who likes to knit, was visiting Dayton and stopped in at Jacci's store. "She had never made socks before," says Jacci. "I showed her the sock yarn and she bought some to give it a try." This was on a Thursday. On Friday morning the woman was waiting on the sidewalk when Jacci arrived to open her store. "She was so excited – she had knitted half a sock already and she was hooked. She bought another $100 worth of yarn and supplies."

Since her visit to Dayton, Jacci's Maryland customer has placed three more phone orders, mostly for sock yarn. "She's making socks for every member of the family," says Jacci.

Jacci and her husband Tom came to Dayton in 2004 from Moscow, Idaho, where they had lived for 20 years. "We were looking for a small town with a little warmer climate," says Jacci. When she lived in Moscow, Jacci owned a successful chain of hair salons, including one on the WSU campus in Pullman. Besides being a successful entrepreneur, Jacci was an avid knitter. When her favorite yarn shop in Moscow closed, Jacci started selling specialty yarn out of her Moscow salon. "I decided I liked the yarn business more than the hair business," she says, "so I sold all of the salons and opened the Yarn Basket."

Jacci still has customers from the Moscow and Pullman areas that drive to Dayton regularly to purchase their supplies from her. They all love shopping here, she says. Visitors are usually amazed at the selection of yarn they can buy in a little town like Dayton.

Tracie and Bill Barthlow opened Bearpaw Trading Post in 2001, three doors down from its current location. The store specializes in gifts with a western theme. Tracie and Bill make many of the items in the store themselves. Bill is a knife-maker, and many examples of his work are available. Tracie is an artist who specializes in leatherwork. Bill and Tracie also work together to make log furniture, and many pieces can be found in the store.

Sometime during 2006, a family from Scappoose, Oregon, stopped in Dayton on their way to Idaho. They dropped into Bearpaw and fell in love with the store. "They stop in on almost a monthly basis now and shop in several of the stores," says Tracie. "The last time they were here the wife smiled and said, ‘people in Dayton just don't realize what a great thing they have here.'"

Tracie is a Dayton returnee. She spent her early years in Dayton – her father worked at the Green Giant Cannery – before her family moved to Buhl, ID. She and Bill, who is a registered nurse, lived in the Pocatello, ID area for many years. After spending a year in Alaska, the Barthlows, who have a son, Josh, and a daughter, Mariah, moved to Dayton and began looking for a storefront.

Besides making knives, Bill is a gun collector. "He would refurbish them and sell them at gun shows," says Tracie. "I'd go along and put a few of my leather works on a corner of his table. Before long I was taking up half the table and we'd have to expand."

Tracie says that it's common for local residents to bring visitors downtown to shop. "It will usually be the first time in the stores for both," she says. "Many of my local customers didn't discover the store until after their out-of-town friends discovered it."

The Wenaha Gallery sells framed original art and prints, including many limited editions. Their most popular line of limited edition prints is from the Greenwich Workshop, which sells through a group of select dealers nation-wide. Many shoppers looking for Greenwich prints have found the Wenaha through its web site.

Tammy Weppler, who has worked at the Wenaha Gallery for six years, operates the store's web site. "Our site often shows up on the first page of a Google search for Greenwich artists," she says. "People contact us through the site from all over the country." Weppler also manages the Gallery's eBay store, which features much of its merchandise.

Lael Loyd, who has worked at the gallery for three years, and is the gallery's framer, says that the Wenaha has a few customers from western Washington who are regular buyers of Greenwich prints and have them framed here. "There's a lady from Aberdeen who began buying prints from us a couple of years ago," says Lael. "She stops in Dayton on a regular basis now when she visits her daughter at WSU in Pullman. She has lunch and hits several of the stores and loves it."

Tammy and her husband, Chris, moved to Dayton from the Seattle area in 2000. "We were looking for a small town to settle in with our family," she says, "and we saw a couple of the beautiful Victorian homes in Dayton on a real estate web site." Lael moved to Dayton with her husband Richard in 2006. Richard is a Columbia County Sheriff's deputy. Lael grew up in Western Washington, but went to college in Tennessee.

The Wenaha Gallery recently won the Dayton Chamber of Commerce's Business of the Year award. Owners Ed and Pat Harri opened the gallery at its present location at 219 E. Main Street in 1993.

Nearly 40 people currently sell merchandise at the Village Shoppes. The store includes 26 small booths which are rented by sellers. And shop owner Candy Jones says the shop usually carries consigned items from 10 to 12 other sellers.

The store, located at 245 E. Main Street, has gifts and collectibles of all kinds, from post cards to toys to furniture. Candy says she talks with visitors to Dayton almost daily. "They come into the store and tell us what a great experience Dayton is," she says. Candy makes a point of introducing Dayton visitors to the many important landmarks downtown. "I have a stack of brochures on the counter," she says, "and if people ask, I show them information on the Court House and the Depot and the walking tours, etc." When visitors show a particular interest, Candy will take them on a short walking tour of the historic downtown.

Candy grew up in California, but lived in Dayton for many years. She got her teaching degree in Ellensburg and then moved to Visalia, California. She moved back to Dayton with her husband, Jim Dyke, in 2000.

Candy and Jim soon opened Alleyside Antiques in the back of Patty Eaton's Hawthorne Gallery at the current Village Shoppes location. When Patty moved her shop, Candy and Jim decided to take over the whole building and offer booths for people who wanted small retail spaces to sell their merchandise. "We had kids from the schools help us set up store fronts and display cases," Candy says. She says that several downtown retailers who are now at other locations got their start at the Village Shoppes. These include Jacci's Yarn Shop, Manila Bay Café, Brenda's Discounts and the Home Baked Goodness Bakery.

Candy says that, several times, visitors have come into the store and remarked with surprise at how nice it was. "I'll ask them where they're from," says Candy, "and they'll say ‘Oh we live in Dayton. We just didn't know this nice little place was here.'"

Copyright (c) 2007, Blue Mountain News

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