From the Ballard Locks to the bell: An illustrated tour

This piece is from our latest This City Block series, which highlights stories from Ballard.

If a visit to Ballard is on your list of local urban walks this spring, I have a fun itinerary for you.

Start at Commodore Park, on the Magnolia side of the Ballard Locks, the system of waterways that allows boats to pass from the freshwater of the Lake Washington Ship Canal to the saltwater of Puget Sound, and make your way to the Ballard bell tower about a mile away in the heart of the neighborhood.

If you fear that the 21 parking spots at the little park will be taken, consider walking (or cycling, or running!) down the 33rd Avenue West pedestrian bridge from Magnolia, a little-known passage that crosses over the railroad tracks (sorry, neighbors, if this sends hordes of people your way). The out-and-back excursion is a bit over 2 miles.

Here’s a handy little map of my route and some recommended stops where I drew along the way:

1. Two strategically placed benches overlooking the Salmon Bay railroad bridge are a perfect spot to get in the mindset for this excursion. A plaque on the ground reads: “Walking in the land of salmon and raven. Mary Coventry.” I drew here as tugboats, sailboats and the harbor patrol went by.

2. Early April is egg-laying and -incubating season for the great blue herons that live near Commodore Park, so make sure not to disturb the graceful birds. I counted as many as 27 herons up on their nests and watched a few flying in and out.

3. Salmon won’t start passing through the Ballard Locks’ fish ladder until mid-June, with peak viewing usually happening in mid-September. But since the fish ladder viewing room was renovated in 2021 with comfier seating, interactive displays and giant TV screens, it’s worth stepping inside this space any time of the year.

4. I love the whimsical “Salmon Waves” sculptures by artist Paul Sorey sitting right above the fish ladder. They are a nice complement to the industrial aesthetic of the Locks. As I make my drawing, I watch quite a few cyclists walking their bikes, a rule of visiting the Locks.

5. I have been aboard an Argosy cruise before, back in 2019 on a “Husky Boat” tour and also during the Christmas Ship Festival. How fun to see another Argosy vessel today as it enters the small chamber of the Locks on its way to Elliott Bay. Watching the boat traffic at the Locks never fails to entertain.

6. The official residence of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district commander sits at the center of the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden on the north side of the Locks. The gardens are also a great place to relax on sunny days, listen to a concert in the summertime or watch the many geese that seem to patrol the premises. 

7. Facing the railroad bridge from the north shoreline of the bay, I come across “A Salish Welcome,” a formidable sculpture by the late local artist Marvin Oliver, of Quinault and Isleta-Pueblo heritage. According to a plaque, the figure, which holds a dish representing the salmon life cycle, “greets us and reminds us that we are stewards of this evolving living landscape for new generations of salmon and people alike.”

8. After reading the stories about artist Thomas Dambo’s giant troll sculptures popping up in the Pacific Northwest, I’m excited to finally see one in person at the entrance of the National Nordic Museum. “Frankie Feetsplinter” looks both creepy and amusing at the same time. “He follows you with his eyes,” a passerby who had already visited the six northwest trolls locations told me as I was drawing.

9. Wandering off the beaten path sometimes pays off. From the National Nordic Museum on Market Street, I walk south on 28th Avenue Northwest to find a Seattle shoreline street end I had yet to discover. My sketch is made a bit more animated when a dog jumped in the water while his owner watched.

10. Back on Market Street, the Limback Lumber building is impossible to miss. “Since 1930,” as the sign in the shape of a handsaw on the facade reads, this business has been serving the Northwest with a great inventory of lumber and building materials. The presence of the industrial facility contrasts with the apartment buildings that have sprung up along the street in recent years.

11. The red brick Ballard Centennial Bell Tower was built to house the bell that hung above Ballard’s City Hall when the neighborhood was an independent city at the turn of the 20th century. Here’s where my urban sketch walk comes to an end at a fitting time. It’s 6 p.m. and the bell just started to ring, just like it used to more than 100 years ago when the mill workers left their jobs for the day.