Community Dock Hits the Road
“Honey, will ya go with me to the farmer’s market?”
This is how most Sunday mornings go in my apartment. Rain or shine, we like to take a few laps around the Stowe Farmer’s Market (every Sunday through October, 10:30am-3pm), listening to the live musical talent and trying to support the variety of local businesses. Recently at the market, I had the pleasure of meeting Maria Steyaart of Honeywilya Fish. She and her husband Lynn are in the process of migrating some of their resources to a new endeavor: The Community Dock Seafood Market.
Maria & Honeywilya at the Stowe Farmer’s Market
Honeywilya Fish has become popular in the area – a few months ago, my Front Porch Forum was busy with neighbors recommending shares in Honeywilya’s Community Supported Fishery (CSF) program – and the Steyaarts are hoping to make clean, quality, salt-water fish all the more accessible in landlocked Vermont.
Most commercial salmon is caught using nets, capturing schools of fish at a time. This line-caught method is efficient in many ways, however the flavor of the fish is compromised by the sheer volume of the catch. Lynn’s approach seems more artisanal, demonstrating a sense of stewardship towards the fish and the sea; sustainability is a priority. Because he catches one fish at a time, each is immediately cleaned to preserve its delicate flavor before being flash frozen and making its way to Maria in Duxbury by way of a combination of ships, planes, and cargo trucks. While Maria maintains the business at home in Vermont, Lynn spends five to six months of the year at sea.
Community Dock is not in fact a permanent dock, but rather a fishmongering mobile retail unit that will travel across Vermont on a regular circuit debuting later this summer. The house brand seafood of the Community Dock will be Honeywilya’s, which is line caught from Lynn’s fishing vessel off the coast of southeast Alaska. In addition, they will also be offering other responsibility caught seafood like prawns, crab, lobster, and sablefish that will also be directly sourced by the fisher. Community Dock’s mission is to provide high quality, responsibly caught seafood that fosters a connection between their customers and the fisher.
CVEDC has been proud to support the Steyaarts and their innovative model through the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) and related grant programs. RMAP funds contributed to the purchase and outfitting of the Community Dock seafood trailer; granted monies went to developing their website and branding. We look forward to seeing the Community Dock on the road, knowing that at this very moment Lynn could be gutting a salmon that might end up on a neighbor’s plate. Of course, the operation couldn’t succeed without Maria’s commitment to the business end of their enterprise. Community Dock proves that the creativity and community of Central Vermont has the power to span the continent!
If you see these blue doors on the road, know there’s good fish within.