Farmers Markets: the Ultimate ‘Shop Local’ Experience

by Cara Russell

UPDATE 7/31/13: There is a new market in Friday Harbor called ‘Sundays at Brickworks,’ from 12-4 p.m. Definitely in its infancy, it’s a sweet spot open to vendors from all the islands, showcasing the bounty of the islands. Just as Brickworks is a repurposed building, this is a great place to see repurposed arts & crafts.

Friday Market in Friday Harbor—one of many opportunities to shop local. Photo: Cara Russell

Every summer our local farmers and artists gather together outdoors, to display and sell their locally-produced goods. And we islanders, and island visitors, get to benefit from their labors of love. Aside from buying local, helping to support and keep the money on the islands, and reduce our carbon footprint by shopping locally, shopping a Farmers Market is a fun way to spend part of a summer’s day.

On Orcas we get to enjoy the Farmers Market on the Village Green, every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., May through September. And for the next three Wednesdays, there’s an evening Market from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with an Island Hoppin’ beer garden, and live local music. This mid-week market was created with the intention of making shopping locally more accessible to those islanders who can’t usually make it to the market on Saturday. Aside from getting two Farmers Markets a week on Orcas, there are two more options.

Lopez Island is known for having large Farmers Markets, with over 100 vendors. Their Market is every Saturday, 10am-2pm, running from May 18 through September 14, located next to the Lopez Community Center. The vendors sell island grown produce, flowers, and fruit in season, preserves, fudge, and seafood to name a few, plus a wide variety of art and craft items.

A happy market-goer enjoying local fare. Photo: Cara Russell

San Juan Island has two markets a week, held in Brickworks Square. The first is Friday Harbor Art Market, held every Friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., running from June 21st through August 30. This market is run by Debbie Pigman, who created it two years ago to help artists in the San Juan Islands show and sell their work. Friday Harbor Art Market has ceramics, cool up-cycled women’s handbags, SJI made kitchen knives, elegant jewelry by a 15 year-old high school student, as well as local live music, and local food vendors—like the fresh cooking of Joe Foriska. Artists from other islands can also be found at FHAM, such as Orcas Island Sea Glass Jeweler Erica Lyons, who travels to San Juan Island every Friday to sell her jewelry.

On Saturdays shop the San Juan Farmers Market for items like heirloom tomatoes from Thirsty Goose Farm–worth standing in line for. The San Juan Island Saturday Farmers Market runs April through the third week of October, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and it’s just a short walk from the ferry landing.

The easiest way to visit SJI is to just to park your car at the ferry landing, and walk on the boat. Once you reach San Juan Island, walk up Spring Street, and take a left down the alleyway right before the Movie Theater.

These markets are actually quite doable and worth the outing. Check your ferry schedules, and see if a walk-on ferry boat ride to Friday Harbor or Lopez Island is something you might enjoy.