The most ridiculous, disgusting, gummy but famous tourist attraction in Seattle finally gets cleaned. After 20 years, the famous Seattle Gum Wall will get a scrub down. The Gum Wall has been visited by millions of local and foreign tourists every year.
The Gum Wall has been a monumental attraction for the past twenty years at Pike Place Market. The wall, rich with germs, gums of different colors and flavors, and people's saliva will be cleaned with the use of an industrial grade steamer. It is estimated that about 1 million gum pieces will be removed. This total general clean up is necessary as the gums sugar, chemical and acid content are degrading the brick walls which are part of the building's exterior facade. The gum will melt and fall to the ground from the intense heat coming from the steam.
A small team will collect the gummed up mess. The whole project is said to cost about $4,000.
To celebrate twenty years of gummy goodness, Pike Place Public Market Center is holding a contest on Facebook where users can submit photos with the wall.
That doesn't mean the tradition will stop though. After the wall has been cleaned, people are still allowed to keep the gum momentum going by adding their own piece of history to the wall - their own personally chewed gum.
The tradition began back in 1993 when patrons of a comedy improv theater would stick their gums to the wall and placed coins in the middle of the gummy blobs. Theater employees tried to clean up the mess several times but gave up when Market Officials named it as a local landmark.
The clean up will begin on Tuesday November 10. If you want to have your picture taken before they steam it all down, then you have a few days left. Seattle Time reports.
