Say farewell to Seattle’s Gum Wall —it’s being cleaned soon

Guys, I am from Seattle and let me tell you something. The gum wall (which can be found at Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, WA) is a real thing. I wish I had a picture to show you of me standing by the gum wall and pretending to lick it, but I’m from here and that’s just gross and not exciting to me. That all being said, I am full Seattle pride, so I support this disgusting wall of germs and bacteria with my whole heart.

With this said, I bring you some sad news. The gum wall we know and love is getting CLEANED.  For the first time in 20 years (!!!), the gum wall will be scrubbed down. According to Pike Place, the wall needs to be cleaned because of all of the sugar in the gum. And with over a million balls of chewed up gum on the wall —you can imagine how much sugar is kicking it on that wall.

And we can’t imagine that it’s going to be an easy feat. The gum wall is around eight feet high and approximately 54 feet wide — that’s a ton of gum.

Wondering how it all got started? The iconic, sticky wall came to be when people waiting in line for improv shows began to stick their gum on the wall next to them. Though it is a sort of lazy and gross history, it is a wall of love and tradition at this point. Hey, it was even named as one of the top five germiest attractions in the world in 2009.

The cleaning begins next week and once its completed, people can start sticking their gum right back on the wall. Maybe we’ll clean it up again in 20 years. Anything is possible.

If you live in or around Seattle, run to that gum wall before Monday and submit your gum pictures! You might just win something great!

Featured image via Flickr