Visiting Seattle:The Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market is the oldest continuously running public market in the United States.

There are 9 acres of history, vendors, businesses, attractions and of course The Public Market.

More than 100 farmers, 190 crafts and services tables, 200 businesses and 240 street musician and performers can be found there every day.

In the last 100+ years The Pike Place Market has earned the title of The Soul of Seattle.

This title comes as no surprise to anyone who has been there. The Pike Place Market is alive with incredible smells, sounds and entertainment. There are approximately 10 million people who visit and shop at the market every year.

The first day of the Public Market was on August 17, 1907.

It all began when 8 farmers brought their wagons to 1^st Avenue and Pike Street to sell their goods at reasonable prices.

They were greeted with thousands of shoppers. Unfortunately on that day, the farmers were out of product by 11am.

It didn’t take long for many other farmers and vendors to see that there was a real opportunity blossoming. In only took 4 months for the first building to be filled with fulltime vendors.

The Public Market is the heart of The Pike Place Market and has an abundance of locally grown fresh products such as:

• Fruit and produce
• Beautiful flowers
• Herbs and teas
• Fresh local honey
• Fresh baked pastries and breads
• Local butchers
• Berry farmers who make fresh jams, syrups and vinaigrettes
• lots of freshly caught seafood

The Public Market is home to the world famous fish throwing Men of The Market at the Pike Place Fish Company. Tourists and locals flock to see these amazing guys sell freshly caught seafood in a very entertaining way. Each time an order is placed, the first guy yells it back and tosses the fish to the next guy to be cleaned and that guy yells and throws it to the next guy and so on. The fish makes it's way down the line and by the time the customer receives their order, it has been cleaned, cut to their specifics and wrapped.

They even have a daily live web cam aimed at the throwers so people from all over the world can relive the wonderful memories they experience at the Pike Place Market.

Fresh fish 7am – 6pm

The vendors who are allowed daily space rentals are: farmers who grow their own product and craftspeople that make their own goods.

The Market has a long standing policy that states, the customer should be able to meet and interact with the farmer and craftspeople they are purchasing from. This allows customers to know that the product is fresh and local.

This policy is called, Meet the Producer and it is written in big neon letters right next to the Public Market Sign to solidify the commitment to all its consumers.

The market opens 362 days per year, rain or shine.

The only days it remains closed are Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

The hours vary slightly by season but generally the full market is open from 9am until 6pm Monday through Saturday and it closes at 5pm on Sunday.

The Gum wall is exactly what its name suggests it is. One of the brick walls in Post Ally, located right below The Pike Place Market is covered in chewed gum.

There is a theater entrance in this ally and the patrons began using chewed gum as a means of sticking coins to the wall while they were waiting to purchase tickets for the theater. The coins are long gone but the gum remains and more is added daily.

This tradition began in 1993 and became an official tourist attraction in 1999. The theater workers scraped the gum off a few times when it first began but then it became too much to keep up with.

The chewed gum now covers about 50 feet of the wall and goes up about 15 feet high.

The Heritage Tour is full of interesting and historical information about the market.

Tourists and locals alike enjoy a guided look through the Public Market and the lower levels of Pike Place Market where they find many fascinating shops and unique treasures.

Two tours are available daily, rain or shine.

The Market Ghost Tour was ranked in the Top Ten Ghost Tours in the US and One of Seattle’s Best and Weirdest Tourist Attractions.

This is a 75 minute tour of the exterior of Pike Place Market with a guide spinning tales of Seattle’s history and stories of ghost hauntings and sightings.

The Pike Place Market was voted The Most Haunted Place in the Northwest so it comes as no surprise that The Market Ghost Tours have been extremely popular since they began in 2004.

The Pike Place Market has been a large piece of Seattle, Washington for more than 100 years.

It continues to bring the community together and serve tourists from all over the world.

This is the perfect destination for all the freshly grown products imaginable, history and guided tours, wonderfully handcrafted art and an abundance of entertainment for all ages.