Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market Gum Wall is undergoing a deep clean, the likes of which haven’t been seen since 2019, as workers aim to power wash the chewed canvas to its brick bones. The cleaning process began Monday and is slated to be completed today, according to
KIRO 7
. Pike Place Market officials indicate this sticky attraction has expanded in its years of existence, now stretching over eight feet high and spanning 54 feet wide.
The market’s spokesperson highlighted the need to occasionally clean the wall, not just to restore a semblance of order, but because the “acidic properties of the gum have been slowly damaging the bricks” of the infrastructure it blankets. This point was reiterated by
MyNorthwest
, which emphasized the harmful effects of the gum’s erosive nature. It’s a bitter irony that what started as a whimsical, communal art piece has come to slowly erode the very structure it adorns.
First scrubbed down in 2015, and then again in 2019, the Gum Wall has become a living testament to the thousands who’ve passed through Post Alley, leaving behind a piece of themselves—albeit in pre-chewed form.
KOMO News
reported on the wall’s evolution from its original site, a testament to the organic growth of communal spaces over time.
As the cleaning crew works to strip away countless contributions, one can’t help but contemplate the transient nature of such public monuments. By Friday, what was once a vibrant and malleable tapestry will have returned, albeit temporarily, to its unadorned state—a blank slate awaiting the new batch of tourists and locals eager to stick a part of themselves to the storied bricks. This cycle of creation and restoration, as noted in
MyNorthwest
, adds to the lore of a spot that has become emblematic of Seattle’s endemic vibrancy and charm.
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