One of the reasons why I appreciate the Bellingham Farmers Market's transit accessible location in Downtown Bellingham (Depot Market Square, 1100 Railroad Avenue at E. Maple Street) is it gives BhamByBus some limited access to vendors from another market that, when you live car-free in Bellingham, isn't.

The Bellingham Dockside Market, where seafood vendors assemble at the Port of Bellingham's Squalicum Harbor on the first and third Saturday of the month, is located a great distance from any WTA bus route. The closest stop, at W. Holly Street & D Street in Old Town along Route 3 (Downtown to Cordata/WCC via Airport), is 1.3 miles away via the not-so-pleasant Roeder Avenue & F Street intersection at the BNSF railroad tracks. That's roughly 30 minutes of walking there and back. And given the once-hourly frequency of Route 3, you might as well walk all the way back to Bellingham Station, which is 2 miles away from the Dockside Market, or approximately 40 minutes of walking. And who wants to hand carry fresh fish and shellfish back from Squalicum Harbor as motorists speed by along Roeder Avenue or a BNSF freight train rumbles by? (I fully admit that this is where a bike would come in handy to close that gap.)

Ferndale's Lummi Seafood Market at the Bellingham Farmers Market. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

Fortunately, for Bellinghamsters living car-free and looking for fresh, local, and transit-accessible seafood, the Bellingham Farmers Market hosts a small selection of seafood vendors who also sell at the Dockside Market down at Squalicum Harbor: Skita, Alaska's Sea to Shore Seafood Co. and Ferndale's Lummi Seafood Market. As BhamByBus was strolling through Saturday's Farmers Market, some freshly caught spot prawns caught our attention. 

In May, Daily Hive in Vancouver, B.C., had a good spot prawn explainer and why they're a local delicacy: "They have a firm texture and are naturally sweet. They are also known for their reddish-brown colouring with distinctive white spots." In a May 2015 feature, Seattle magazine described them as "almost like miniature lobsters." Locally caught spot prawns are available for a limited window of time this time of year. In Washington, spot prawn fisheries opened up in mid-May for many areas of Puget Sound, the Salish Sea, and adjacent waterways. 

Given their short window of availability, we pounced and after buying 1 pound, soon wandered over to the WTA's nearby Route 1 bus stop, spot prawns (and some white king salmon) in hand to figure out what to do with them. 

Voila! A variation of shrimp and grits, pairing local spot prawns (Lummi Seafood Market) with teff polenta fortified with broth made from the shells, plus fennel and fresh farm garlic from Sedro-Wooley's Foothills Farm and some Basque spice powder from Bow's Boldly Grown Farms. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

One of these Saturdays, I'll make the trek to Squaliacum Harbor to buy some fish and shellfish, but in the meantime, the seafood vendors who are also at the Bellingham Farmers Market help fill the fresh local seafood transit gap.

A dream (but not feasible) transit-accessible seafood idea: A Samish Bay rail stop at Taylor Shellfish Farms?  

How to Get There: The Bellingham Farmers Market (Depot Market Square, 1100 Railroad Avenue at E. Maple Street), is a short stroll or roll from the WTA's Bellingham Station, served by numerous bus routes. Route 1 (Downtown to Fairhaven) stops at N. State Street & E. Chestnut Street (southbound) and at N. Forest Street & E. Chestnut Street (northbound).