Olympia family back in business after thieves stole merchandise truck in Federal Way

LACEY, Wash. – A family business from Olympia has returned to the Haunted Night Market in Lacey for the first time after thieves devastated their business at the start of the Halloween season. 

Their rented U-Haul, containing their merchandise, tent and display racks, was stolen out of the La Quinta Inn parking lot in Federal Way just weeks ago, while they slept. 

The Andersons say it was a treat to be back at the Haunted Night Market on Friday, after getting tricked by the thieves in Federal Way. 

“I almost quit, but the coordinators are so encouraging,” said Elizabeth Anderson, owner of Cutout Creation PNW.   

Though the ghouls stole their rental truck and made off with most of their merchandise, the Anderson family didn’t give up the ghost.

“There was a day we just kind of let everything hit us, and then we had to make a choice,” said Elizabeth. “We’ve been carding and boarding since the day after the theft happened.”

Liz says they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and the community helped them to “carve” out a plan to return to the market. 

“Not a lot of sleep, a lot of work,” said Elizabeth. 

“A lot of late nights the kids were helping. We even had a coordinator of another show come over and do some pinning,” said Wes Anderson.  

“All the racks, the tents, everything has been donated to us,” said Liz. “I got blank bags to print- I printed these yesterday.”

Wes estimates that they put around 3,500 pins on the board in just two weeks’ time. 

“Typically we have 12 boards, I think we have seven boards. So, we are not at full capacity, but we are getting there,” said Wes. 

Now that the business has been resurrected from the dead, Elizabeth and Wes are thankful for the boo-tiful sentiment from those who donated and from all the ghosts and goblins that bought goodies at the festival.

“Showing us that these people don’t have to win, we have a community, and we’ll get back to where we were again,” said Elizabeth. “A hit like this at Walmart they probably feel it, but for people like us, it’s our whole life, so shopping small is important.”

If you missed the family at the market on Friday night, and you’d like to support them, they’ll be at the Haunted Farmers Market in Tacoma on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

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