Tyler Thomas and Peggi Bosworth

Recent visitors to the West Moon Trading Company on 13th near the UO campus may have noticed a hand-lettered "Rock the Vote" sign on the entrance door and a stack of voter registration forms on the counter. "If we get into a conversation, we'll ask if they are registered," says West Moon employee Catharine Army. Store owner Peggi Bosworth observes that much of her clientele is of high-school and college age. "I'm really concerned about young people not registering to vote, especially girls," she says. "We've gotten a good response." A native of the Bay Area in California, Bosworth moved in the late 70s to southern Oregon, where she worked for Rare Earth, an import business based in Ashland -- "I ran the Medford store." After eight years as a waitress in Eugene, she opened West Moon in 1995, based on the Rare Earth model. The family business also employs her daughter Jamie Decker -- "she's my buyer" -- and her son Tyler Thomas, who manages a two-year-old second store in Corvallis. "Participation feels good," Bosworth says. "I like being around kids. We don't encourage them to vote one way or the other."