Bellingham would not be complete without the Bellingham Farmers Market. Good food, happy people and fresh smells keep us coming back again and again. Luckily, during the summer months we get to enjoy the market, not once, but twice a week thanks to the Fairhaven Wednesday Market. Located on the Village Green in Fairhaven, the Wednesday Market is well underway for the 2017 season, offering all the vendors and activities we know and love, along with some new ones as well!
Allie Bishop Pasquier will be hosting installments of her Play Lab every second Wednesday of each month. Play Lab is a space where both children and adults can play and learn. “Today we are doing a play dough bar. I have all these objects and herbs that kids can cut up and mix into their dough,” Allie explained.
She aims to please children and adults of all ages. “A two-year-old can come and hold a piece of play dough or a 12-year-old can come and make some crazy Minecraft thing,” she says. “It’s very open-ended. It is important to me that the people who come to play get to take ownership over that play because it is a great way to learn.” While Play Lab is not new to Bellingham, this is the first summer that Allie can be found at the Wednesday Market on a regular basis. You can learn more about Play Lab and their various summer camps by visiting the Play Lab website.
Demo Days, put on by Sustainable Connections, is also being incorporated into the Wednesday Market. On the first Wednesday of each month you can count on learning a new recipe or way of preparing locally sourced food. Sustainable Connections’ Food and Farming Outreach Coordinator Alex Smith explained that each month there is a new featured ingredient that is called the “Harvest of the Month.”
“June was salad greens,” he said. “We demo how to make a salad with a dressing made from local ingredients – garlic, local vinegars, strawberries, radishes. Or a sandwich with local bread, cheese and sprouts.” Highlighting a specific local ingredient is important because even though people might not always eat or shop local, the idea is that the next time they make a sandwich, they at least have a sourced starting point.
Demo Days at the Fairhaven Wednesday Market is a great way of discovering what produce is available, easily accessible, fresh and in season. In addition to the Wednesday Market, Alex explained that Demo Days will soon be held at the Cordata location of the Community Food Co-op and local Haggen grocery stores. “We are currently training volunteers,” he says, adding that he needs more of them. For more information on Demo Days or volunteer opportunities, contact Alex by email or visit Sustainable Connection’s website.
Conveniently located right next to the Village Green, Village Books has plans to be part of the Wednesday Market as well. Claire McElroy-Chesson, events coordinator for Village Books and Paper dreams says, “We love having the market here! We do our best to let people know about all the great vendors and events.”
Camp Village Books will be hosted August 4 through 8 for kids ages 7 to 10. That Wednesday is food and farm day. “We do a scavenger hunt through the market,” says Claire.
Then, the last Wednesday of August, Chef Jenn Louis will be visiting to demo her book, The Book of Greens, which was released in April and will pair perfectly with the atmosphere of fresh produce and local community. She competed in season five of Top Chef Masters. She has now written two books, the first being Pasta By Hand. Be sure to seek her out between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. August 23.
On July 19, Village Books also plans on having Dinger, the beloved Bellingham Bells mascot, around to play catch with kids on the green Claire is excited about this particular event and she says, “If we’re lucky, a few of the Bells’ players will be there as well!” If you have any baseball players or Bells fans in your household, this is certainly something you wouldn’t want to miss.
Also, every third Wednesday between 12:00 and 12:30 p.m. there is free yoga on the green. There will be local, rotating instructors and giveaway prizes. Bring your own mat and join in on the fun with other yogis of various skill levels. These sessions are perfect for anyone.
Rally up your whole family and get your midweek market fix. There is something for everyone in Fairhaven this summer. Along with some of these new Wednesday Market features, there will be at least 25 of your favorite vendors and a free concert series that lasts throughout the entire season. Enjoy live music from local talent as you play and peruse.
For more information, visit the Fairhaven Wednesday Market website.
