Pike Place Market hired a contractor to melt the estimated 1 million wads of gum off the wall with powerful steam cleaners.
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Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority is going to weigh all the gum before it’s tossed, the Seattle Times says.
When locals first began sticking their gum to the wall, clean-up action was taken.
A few of the gum pieces plastered to the walls have been molded into messages, hearts and other shapes.
This week a worker in a plastic protective suit and mask used a steam cleaner to blast off parts of the wall where many have used their gum to anchor photos, love notes, business cards and artwork. “It was disgusting!! Seattle’s famous chewing gum wall dismantled by cleaning crews”. But they expect people will start leaving gum on the space again soon. Workers are steam-cleaning the walls, which host approximately 150 pieces of gum per brick. “It just seemed like a good time to let the wall re-emerge”, said Emily Crawford with Pike Place Market. All of it was cleaned off in a matter of hours, presenting a fresh start for a gross yet oddly attractive tradition.
Seattle theater-goers have slapped their last piece of Trident on a wall with the moniker of the “second-germiest” tourist spot in the world. Since then, the colorful “gum wall” has expanded to other brick walls in the alley, pipes and even the theater’s box office window. The cleaning is expected to take three days.
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They estimate the gum’s total weight could be nearly a tonne.
