Decades of goo stripped off gum wall at Pike Place Market

Marnie Hunter
By Marnie Hunter, CNN
Updated 2:16 PM EST, Wed November 11, 2015
A worker uses a high-temperature pressure washer to clean layers of gum from Seattle's famous gum wall at Pike Place Market on Tuesday, November 10. Tourists and locals have been sticking their used chewing gum on the walls of a section of Post Alley for the past 20 years.
A worker uses a high-temperature pressure washer to clean layers of gum from Seattle's famous gum wall at Pike Place Market on Tuesday, November 10. Tourists and locals have been sticking their used chewing gum on the walls of a section of Post Alley for the past 20 years.
Ted S. Warren/AP
Although the walls will be cleaned down to bare brick, officials expect that the gum-sticking tradition will continue.
Although the walls will be cleaned down to bare brick, officials expect that the gum-sticking tradition will continue.
Elaine Thompson/AP
Fernando Soberania uses a tool to scrape layers of gum from the wall.
Fernando Soberania uses a tool to scrape layers of gum from the wall.
Ted S. Warren/AP
An estimated 1 million pieces of chewed gum will be removed.
An estimated 1 million pieces of chewed gum will be removed.
Ted S. Warren/AP
Javier Ramirez cleans a section of the wall.
Javier Ramirez cleans a section of the wall.
Ted S. Warren/AP
Visitors check out Seattle's gum wall on Monday, November 9, a day before the cleaning started. The cleaning should be complete on Thursday.
Visitors check out Seattle's gum wall on Monday, November 9, a day before the cleaning started. The cleaning should be complete on Thursday.
Ted S. Warren/AP
A United States flag made from pieces of gum is one decoration that will come off the wall.
A United States flag made from pieces of gum is one decoration that will come off the wall.
Ted S. Warren/AP
A tourist has her photo taken in front of the gum wall before the deep clean.
A tourist has her photo taken in front of the gum wall before the deep clean.
Ted S. Warren/AP
Deep-cleaning the Pike Place gum wall

Story highlights

The Pike Place Market gum wall cleaning is expected to be finished Thursday

An estimated 1 million pieces of chewed gum are coming off the wall

CNN  — 

Mounds of amalgamated goo are melting off Pike Place Market’s famous gum wall in Seattle.

Three workers from Cascadian Building Maintenance started the three-day task of stripping 20 years worth of accumulated chew back down to the brick on Tuesday.

“It smells of a mixture of watermelon, spearmint and pink bubble gum,” said Pike Place spokeswoman Emily Crawford. “It’s reminiscent of how powerful the alley smells in the summertime, when you can smell the gum from about a block away.”

It’s the first time in two decades that the market’s gum wall and Post Alley have received a deep cleaning. An estimated 1 million pieces of chewed gum will be removed.

Clad in rain gear, gloves and rubber boots, the workers are using industrial steam cleaners to shoot out a gallon of 260˚ water per minute. Gum and water are flowing out of the alley, where a collection system is catching gum and trash before the water flows into a storm drain.

The gum will be weighed by the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority before it’s thrown out, according to the Seattle Times.

“This is probably the weirdest job we’ve done,” Cascadian Building Maintenance’s Kelly Foster told the Seattle Times before the project started.

The job is expected to cost $4,000, the newspaper reports. Market officials know that avid chewers are still likely to deposit their gum on the wall, but they’re hoping the clean-up helps contain its spread across the market’s historic walls.

The curious tourist draw has earned the dubious distinction of being named the world’s second-germiest attraction, after Ireland’s Blarney Stone. And to mark the big clean, the market is hosting a gum wall photo contest on its Facebook page.

A must-see for Seattle visitors, Pike Place Market opened more than a century ago on August 17, 1907.

Fishmongers at the market toss the day’s catch with great flourish. The market is also known for the flagship Starbucks location, which opened in 1971.

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