Mark Seymour made his first-ever dollar harvesting oysters for his father. Out of four siblings, he showed the most desire to be on the water — a quality he still shares with his dad, Steve. “I think we’re cut from the same cloth,” Mark said.
Today, mementos from this chapter of Mark’s childhood hang on the walls of Drayton Harbor Oyster Co., an oyster farm and waterfront restaurant in downtown Blaine. Blaine has a rich history of aquaculture, and Drayton Harbor wears this heritage on its sleeve: From the dart boards mounted on vintage buoys to the shiplap walls, the restaurant’s charm comes from its sense of place.
Drayton Harbor has existed as an oyster farm since 1980, but the restaurant itself is just 5 years old. Neither Steve nor Mark ever intended to go into food service. But Drayton Harbor is now a community cornerstone — and the Seymours have become inadvertent stewards of Blaine’s culture and ecology.
“Family legacy is cool, but I think I really enjoy walking out there knowing that … I’m walking in history,” Mark said. He continued, “I’m not a history buff, but I love learning about this old town. I love learning about old ways, and trying to keep some of that stuff rolling — and not just bury and forget about it.”
History of the farm
Steve, 78, and Mark, 40, are both fisheries biologists by trade, with Steve having previously worked with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Steve became involved with Drayton Harbor in the ‘80s, when the farm’s previous owners approached him about buying oyster seed.
Steve eventually came on board as a partner and hired another man, Geoff Menzies, to assist with operations. The duo bought Drayton Harbor from its original owners — but business came to a halt in the ’90s, when poor water quality necessitated the closure of acres of farmland.
Menzies, whom Steve said is “the hero of this story,” kept Drayton Harbor alive as a nonprofit. He partnered with Puget Sound Restoration Fund to restore the bay’s water quality, an ultimately successful endeavor.
Steve, meanwhile, left to work for WDFW — but in 2013, Menzies sold the farm back to him as a retirement project. Around the same time, Mark moved back to Whatcom County for surgery after a sports injury.
“I said, ‘Hey, let’s try going into the oyster business together,’” Steve said. “So we did.”
The makings of a restaurant
The early days weren’t glamorous: Steve and Mark found themselves transporting “a couple hundred dozen” oysters to Seattle each week. Then, a unique opportunity arose closer to home. A 300-square-foot storefront came up for rent in Blaine for just $500 a month — “a screaming deal,” as Steve put it — and the Seymours just couldn’t say no.
“We rented that space to sell bags [of oysters],” Steve said. “It was just, the next thing we knew, people said, ‘Well gee, can you open them?’ And, ‘Gee, can I have a beer?’”
Not ones to ignore customer requests, the Seymours first obtained a liquor license, then a food license. “We started being this little hole-in-the-wall place on the corner, which was actually sweet,” Steve said. “It was just him, me, my sister, nephew, my grandson, and it was just simple, simple stuff.”
But the Seymours had their eye on Drayton Harbor’s current building, which at the time was more dilapidated than rustic-chic. When it finally became available, Mark’s carpentry background gave them an upper hand: He salvaged and repurposed much of the 1920s-era material from the original structure.
By 2019, Steve and Mark — or “a couple of folks who don’t know about the food industry, or any of that stuff,” as Steve said — finally had a bona fide restaurant. Today Drayton Harbor as a whole boasts upward of 35 employees.
The Seymours still tweak their formula with each passing year, whether they’re remodeling the kitchen (for the fourth time) or expanding outdoor seating with a canopy (lovingly known as the Oyster Dome). But Mark said the restaurant has given Steve a new purpose: “If we were just growing oysters on the farm, then I don’t think he’d be as involved as he is with this business right now,” he said. “He’s still the face of it.”
‘Can’t never could’ mentality
After roughly five years at the restaurant, Steve and Mark have fallen into their own unique rhythms. Steve, who lives in Bellingham, handles things like grocery pickups, accounting and paperwork. He’s at the restaurant once a day, though, even if it’s just to water the plants. Mark lives close by in Blaine and can be found all over: harvesting oysters, handling repairs, working with employees — the list goes on.
As Steve put it, neither man is turned off by hard work. This quality harkens to Mark’s childhood: Though he recalls Steve as stern, his parenting style ultimately instilled a sense of self-reliance. The family calls this the “can’t never could” mentality: “You might not know how you’re gonna do something — but you’re gonna do it,” Mark explained.
Steve’s personality occasionally contrasts Mark’s, but their differences act as useful counterbalances. Mark, albeit a perfectionist, is better equipped to “get things done and roll with it.” After years in marine science, Steve knows perfection is impossible but is a self-described “worrier,” always thinking several steps ahead.
Mark and Steve also share something critical: an intrinsic love for the bay and its ecology. This was evident from an early age: “[Mark] says I took him fishing, but I really think it was the other way around,” Steve said.
Oyster farming is taxing work, and operating a family business adds another complex layer to the Seymours’ dynamic. Even so, both men are inclined to focus on beauty above discomfort: meadows of eelgrass, eagles, marine life and tides waning out toward the horizon.
“You can look at that and be like, ‘Man, there’s a lot of work, and this is muddy, and this isn’t fun,’” Mark said. Still, he knows how few people experience the environment they work in every day: “Soak it all in! It makes you younger, keeps you alive, it’s a challenge.”
Family and community legacy
When Steve began working in Blaine, the town was far from a destination. But Drayton Harbor “added life back into the plaza” — and with Vancouver and Bellingham close by, Steve believes Blaine could become truly vibrant. He can envision everything from community events, like a summer music program, to educational opportunities, like a marine science center.
“You’ve got plenty of population, but you’ve just got to create places that people want to come to,” he said.
With Drayton Harbor, the Seymours have constructed a potential vision for Blaine’s downtown character going forward: Not quite akin to the five-story developments in White Rock, or the quaint-yet-upscale charms of La Conner, but something that pays homage to Blaine’s unique history.
This history is a motivator for Mark, who is quick to cite a quote from the Blaine Journal circa 1913: “The oysters on Jersey’s Coast have justly won a name, but we grow better flavored ones, yessir, right here in Blaine.” He knows his own land was home to at least two other farms before Drayton Harbor, meaning many Blaine families have walked its grounds — and others with similarly “tenacious personalities” likely fought to keep it afloat.
Steve, however, is motivated by the future, and the knowledge that generations of work could be “gone in a heartbeat” without proper stewardship. The Seymours have come close to losing harvests due to extreme weather and, despite Blaine’s investments in restoration, they never take the health of the bay for granted.
“We’re the canary in the coal mine, if you will. There’s all sorts of issues that could become bigger issues … or they might get a lot better,” Mark said. As for his father, “I know that keeps him going.”
But if Mark and Steve have a say in it, Blaine’s trajectory will continue trending positive. Steve said Drayton Harbor seems to have “tentacles that outreach to a lot of different aspects: environment stuff, community, personal growth.”
Folks listen to the Seymours’ opinions, in part “because we’ve hired their kids” — and they take that responsibility seriously. Even so, Steve sometimes wonders: If their business were in Bellingham, would it be the same? “I don’t know,” he mused. “You’re such a smaller little cog in that big, big wheel.”
But Blaine is its own community — and at this point, Steve continued, “I don’t think we could quit if we wanted to.”
Drayton Harbor Oyster Co. is open noon to 7 p.m. Sunday–Thursday, noon to 8 p.m. Friday–Saturday and closed Tuesday at 685 Peace Portal Drive, Blaine. Info: draytonharboroysters.com.
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
