Discover downtown Dunsmuir with through its Farmer’s Market and lots of public art! Dunsmuir is a historic small town set in a canyon where you can hear the river and the trains passing by while you shop at the Siskiyou Arts Museum Gift Store, hike the many trails, enjoy good food and the surrounding scenery. People are friendly, the pace is relaxing, and between the farmers market and the public art there is plenty to get you out and about in downtown.
The charming and quirky town of Dunsmuir touts themselves as a fishing town, train town with Sacramento Avenue designated as the “Avenue of the Arts.” The downtown historical district is a mix of residential and commercial properties; Victorian, Deco and what I’m going to call “post fire architecture.” The town burnt down twice within a few years in the early 1900s, so practical Dunsmuirians started using fireproof concrete as their preferred building material. You will see several brick buildings that survived the fires, including the Travelers Hotel (now apartments) and The Wheelhouse restaurant among them.
Dunsmuir is a town filled with public murals. Debbie Blackwell painted a mural south of Oak St. on Sacramento Ave. depicting the daily life of town, another designed by John Signor features a fly fisherman on the river and Kim Solga’s street map mural on the wall of City Hall. At the Belknap Fountain (X of Cedar Street & Dunsmuir Avenue) you can view the thriving Community Garden. The fountain is beautifully tiled including dogwood flowers by mosaic artist Monica Zinda.
There are a mix of shops, restaurants and “the Hardware Store” on Dunsmuir Ave. The Dunsmuir Hardware store is as much a museum as it is an old fashion hardware store where you can purchase household and kitchen items, along with plumbing, electrical and building needs. Be sure to stop into the Siskiyou Arts Museum next door to see their most current art show and check out the gift store for locally made arts and crafts, cards and jewelry.
Dunsmuir Farmers Market happens on Thursdays from 4 – 7 p.m. on Spruce St. across from the Children’s Park and next to Dunsmuir Brewery Works. There is always live music to enjoy while shopping, this week’s music was provided by Andre Moorhead. This week I bought a watermelon and a couple of peaches from Julia’s Fruit Stand. They, also, have tomatoes, plums, nectarines cucumbers, zucchinis and summer squash and onions.
At the market are a few home kitchen businesses, including Greenhouse Farm and handmade Pyroclastic artisan chocolates! I got the Mexican dark chocolate…Wow! The heat was just the way I like it. The warm spicy chilies hit the back of my throat after the bitter sweet dark “other flavors, too. Greenhouse Farms offers home-made cookies, peanut brittle and seasonal preserves. This week I tried her Meyer lemon pudding cake. It was sour and tart goodness in a moist creamy cake. If you love lemons you will love this pudding cake.
In an effort to support the eating of fresh fruits and vegetable the Dunsmuir Farmers Market matches up to $15 for EBT, WIC, and Senior Farmers Market coupon purchases. Stop by the market’s booth and speak with Market Manager, Andrea Herr. The Dunsmuir Farmers Market is sponsored by the Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce.
After all of our sightseeing and shopping, food was next on our list. Patio seating at the Dunsmuir Brewery Works (DBW) is a lovely place to people watch and listen to the music from the market. Staff at the DBW is always efficient, knowledgeable and friendly and the food is consistently good. Two qualities I appreciate about DBW. For beverages a glass of Dunsmuir’s “the best water on earth” and a Blood, Sweat and Tears, IPA, always good choices. We ordered Mahi Mahi street tacos, spice-rubbed Mahi-Mahi with salsa and red cabbage on corn tortillas. ($13.95). They didn’t skimp on the fish and the salsa is a green tomatillo base salsa that was tangy and warming. To go with our tacos we ordered a big Greek Salad of house greens, Kalamata olives, red onions, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. ($9.95 half / $14.95 full). The salad had plenty of olives and cheese with a beautiful dressing complimenting the greens.
As always, I enjoyed my day exploring downtown Dunsmuir and its farmer’s market and abundant public art. There is always something to do and not rush to make it happen.
For more ideas on what to see and do around Siskiyou, visit here.
Guest blogger Lauri Sturdivant is an artist living the rural life in Far Northern California. She’s interested in how friends and families share their lives over a meal.
Keywords
downtown, Dunsmuir, Dunsmuir Brewery Works, Farmers' Market, murals, shopping, siskiyou arts museum, South Siskiyou, The Wheelhouse, water fountain
