Charlottetown Farmers' Market - Best Seafood Chowder Ever !

It was a beautiful Saturday morning as Yoko, my new roommate who is an English student from Japan staying at the hostel, and I headed out for our visit to the local farmers' market.

There are three farmers' markets in Charlottetown, PEI.  There was supposed to be one on Queen Street at the Cooperative Grocery store, but when I went there the other day, the store clerk told me that it would not be open until late June.  What a disappointment!

Back at the hostel, I asked the staff about it and Marco told me the farmers’ market that opens year round  is located at University and Belvedere Ave., near Prince Edward Island University. 

” It is quite a walk from where we are.”  He glanced at me hinting that I might not be able to walk that far.   Little did he know that my husband and I did walk the Camino in Spain for two weeks with a heavy backpack each on our back and we walked on the average about 20-25 km a day. If I could walk the Camino, surely, I could easily walk a few kilometers to one of my all time favourite places  – A Farmers’ Market.

 No sooner had we walked out of the hostel, we were stopped by the onslaught of hundreds of motorcycles parading and passing through the main streets of Charlottetown.  What a sight! I never expected to see such a scene in this quiet, little Maritime city. Bikers of mostly around forty and up, men and women,  in their motor bike sleek leather gear charging through town. Traffic stopped.

Hundreds of bikers passing through Charlottetown

 Pedestrians gawked.  A cop car parked at the main intersections with an officer stopping all traffic.  People, young and old, stopped and waved, me and Yoko included.  There must had been hundreds of motorcycles driving through because all traffic  halted for about ten minutes as the bikers reigned the streets for a little while.

What a nice unexpected motorcycle parade for Yoko and me to behold!

It took us about forty minutes walking to the farmers' market and the walk was very pleasant. Of course, having someone to talk with also made the time seemed to go much faster.

We also walked past the University of Prince Edward Island which is just right opposite the Farmers' Market.

Charlottetown Farmers' Market

There is something about Farmers' Market that draws me to them – the people, the sounds of  local music, the joyous laughter of finding a bargain or a beautiful  item,  the sights and smells of fresh flowers, vegetables, eh, of course,  yummy  yummy, delicious pastries and fresh home made local food!!!

 I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning than visiting a local farmers' market.  A visit to the local farmers' market is a must on our travel itinerary.

 We always try to include it in our travel plan although my wonderful husband would beg to differ.

 However, if  there is a place where he could find a cup of good coffee and the Saturday Post, Saturday Star or better the New York Times, I could easily park him there so that I could roam around freely on my own.

I am glad that Yoko and I kinda  like the same thing. We loved taking our time and looking at all the crafts and artsy stuffs and there were a lot to see.

 The market was very busy, with people lining up for the wonderful variety of food ready to be served.

Yummy mini donuts freshly made at the market

For a small city, I was surprised to see the diversity in the food stalls such as African food, Indian curries, Middle Eastern felafels, Chinese noodles, Russian , German baked goods, Italian dishes, and off courses local sea food and great desserts.

 We had a hard time deciding what to eat and finally could not resist the sumptuous seafood chowder simmering and bubbling in front of us.

Wow!   what a delectable bowl of seafood chowder it was!  I have had many different kinds of chowder from all kinds of places, but this one topped it all!


A good size bowl of steaming hot chowder with freshly  caught PEI scallops, shrimps, mussels,  clams, fish, potatoes, carrots, celery and heaven knows what else was in it, served with homemade carrot bread and hummus;  it was a meal fit for a king and absolutely heavenly!

Sunflower Drawing on an Old Window

     It was also nice to find a spacious eating area with seating available at the market,  if you were willing to wait for just a few minutes. So down we sat and enjoyed a lovely and relaxing seafood lunch in the eating area surrounded by fellow hungry shoppers.

Drawing on a Piece of Barn Board

The farmers' market was worth a visit just for the food alone.  We also loved the arts and craft items that were displayed and for sale at the market. I particularly liked the artsy bird houses and wind chimes made by local artisans.

These art pieces demonstrated the creativity of the artists and their very clever use of natural and recycled material such as drift wood pieces,  broken glass bottles, dried twigs cut neatly and made into decorative planters and water colour paintings done on corrugated card boards etc.

These beautiful and unique art pieces adorned the walls of the eating area. 


Not only were we busy enjoying our delicious food, we were feeding our minds as well admiring the artwork hanging in the room.

The farmers' market was a busy, fun and unique place to explore. We will definitely be back for another bowl of seafood chowder when it opens  an extra day on Wednesdays starting at the end of June and throughout the summer. 

Farmers; Market, Charlottetown

What a pleasant way to shop and taste fresh and delicious local food and foods from around the world! 

R.T. , Charlottetown, PEI
June 16, 2012