FarmBoat Floating Market

The Farmboat is a fun place to be. The people are friendly, and who wouldn’t want to tour a historic landmark?
The atmosphere is fun and although the market is now being billed as «the world’s smallest farmers market,» there is still fresh produce. (incidentally the only market that does really have local produce, not from across the mountains in Yakima).
There is a wonderful handmade soap vender that is always there. They use no animal products and no synthetics.
True, other venders come and go, but you can always have a friendly hello from the friendly staff on board the boat and from Mike Farmboat himself as well as any other venders that are there.
I think that it is a great place to just stop by.

We drove about an hour just to go to this really cool-​sounding market hoping to get lunch and some yummy treats. There were three vendors. One selling soap, one coffee and one with very few fresh veggies. That was the extent of the market. We were very disappointed! Too bad because it has great potential. I don’t recommend going out of your way for this market.

The novelty of a farmers market on a boat seems like a great idea, but unfortunately this one was lacking all over the place. I had taken the two babes that I nanny for down to Lake Union Park for a picnic lunch and to explore the market’s opening day on May 10. Hours posted say the market is open on Thursdays from 11:00−3:00 (by the time we went to the boat it was 2:00, well before ending time).
First problem was despite the huge wide dock in which the boat is moored, there is no ramp between the two, making stroller use (us) or wheelchair (another man before us) impossible. Two men with a flower business within the market offered to lift the double stroller inc. its toddler occupants over the gap between dock & boat… thankfully I have more common sense about child safety & water than they do. I did peak into the boat quickly as the flower table was the only business I could see, and they said that was all that was open (I still don’t know if that meant they were the only booth still working or the only one that had been there all damn day). Lastly came a few comments about how I should treat myself to flowers, wouldn’t my girls like flowers at home, I should *really* buy some flowers. And with that unnecessary pushiness (granted, I take a lot less shit when my kids are in tow), we were done.
So despite all the awesomeness toted in the article (
) regarding this great market on an old ship, fresh foods and «crafted treats», and even live music… nada. Highly disappointing. I’ll try again in a couple of months when summer is in full swing and hopefully they get their crap together to make it a worthy adventure. Lake Union Park itself has been gorgeously redone with parking easy and convenient (though expensive with ever-​increasing downtown rates). I hope I have a better review to update this with eventually given this market’s potential.