A Pike Place Market favorite will be losing its flavor

Disgusted, angry, excited? It’s hard to know how to feel now that the Pike Place Market’s Gum Wall will be cleansed of millions of its hard and sticky memories.

The Market is planning for its first major scrub of the wall in 20 years on Nov. 10.

“Just like you, all that sugar can really mess up the surface of your bricks, er, teeth,” said the Gum Wall on the Pike Place Market Facebook page. “I have to admit, after 20 years, I’m feeling a little icky, sticky and in desperate need of a good scrubbing to make me sparkle again.”

The steam-cleaning of the wall and adjacent walls in Post Alley is anticipated to last until Nov. 12 or Nov. 13, due to its multi-ton volume. The Market is hosting a photo contest celebrating the Gum Wall, which has more than 80,000 tagged posts on Instagram.

“We recognize the Gum Wall is one of the most photographed locations at Pike Place Market,” said Emily Crawford, Director of Communications and Marketing for Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority. “The photo contest provides an opportunity for fans around the world to share their Gum Wall memories.”

The Gum Wall has become a popular attraction after starting in an odd way.

“The Wall was started 20 years ago by audience members waiting in line for our late night Theatresports improv show. Since then, it has been cleaned and recreated three times,” said Kent Whipple, Marketing and Development Director for Unexpected Productions, the improv theater troupe that operates the Market Theater in Post Alley. “The Wall is like the art that takes place behind it, constantly changing from the sharing of its participants. And, like a good improv story, has a beginning, middle and end. The Wall is ready to start a new story. We are excited to see the new incarnation.”

Gum left by visitors has migrated beyond the original wall, growing to eight feet high and over 54 feet wide. With an estimated 150 pieces of gum per brick and likely more than 1 million gum wads, the wall is periodically cleaned to protect the integrity of the bricks making up the historic walls of Post Alley.

“We expect the Gum Wall will live on — it’s a Seattle tradition and a crowd-sourced piece of public art that people really enjoy,” Crawford said. “But it’s time to start with a clean canvass.”

KIRO Radio’s John Curley believes this will be the end of the great wall. He says there’s no way the gum needs to be removed to protect the wall’s integrity.

John Curley: If anything it helps keep the wall up. If I were a local business person and I heard you’re taking one of the biggest tourist attractions that effect how many people visit …

Curley argues that the wall attracted people to the area, benefiting the economy. Now what are people going to say?

JC: Some guy from Philly comes in and says, “do you want to see the gum wall?” Someone else asks, “What is it?” The guy from Philly responds that its a wall with 10 to 15 pieces of gum.

KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney argues that people will want to start all over and be the first to add to the wall.

JC: It won’t work. They’re taking it down.