For the first time in more than 20 years, Pike Place Market's famed "Gum Wall," in Seattle, will be completely cleaned.
Emily Crawford, a spokeswoman for the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority (PDA), said the gum wall is cleaned every other month with a steamer, but this will be the first time all the gum is removed from the original wall, according to The Seattle Times.
Crawford noted that the job will be "very large," and as such the PDA has hired a contractor, Cascadian Building Maintenance to assist in the cleanup.
Kelly Foster, of Cascadian Building Maintenance, said the company will use an industrial steam machine that works similarly to a pressure washer, reported NBC's Seattle affiliate King 5 News. The machine will melt the solidified gum with 280-degree steam, and a two-to-three man crew will collect the gum in five-gallon buckets as it falls to the ground.
"This is probably the weirdest job we've done," said Foster.
The wall is being scrubbed completely this time around because the sugar in the gum is eroding the brick wall that houses the Market Theater, reported Inlander. Once the cleanup is done, however, visitors and locals alike will be able to smear their wads of saliva and sugar balls on the wall once more.
The legacy of the "Gum Wall" began in the 1990s with people waiting in line for a late night improv show. It has become a bit of a tourist attraction since then, with people coming from all around the world to leave a little bit of themselves on the wall.
Through a combined effort, the wall has grown to be eight feet high and over 54 feet wide, with an approximately 150 pieces of gum per brick, and an estimated one million gum wads covering the wall in total.
The cleanup is slated to begin on Nov. 10, and before it starts, the Market is holding a photo contest on its Facebook page where people can vote on their favorite "Gum Wall" pictures. The owner of the winning photo will have their name engraved on a charm that will be a permanent fixture of the new Market Front.
