By Lauren Girgis
Seattle Times staff reporter
SEATTLE,WA. – Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market signage gained a new addition Thursday.
The new “Pike Place Market” sign was installed facing the waterfront’s Overlook Walk, on the elevator shaft that takes guests up the Market parking garage.
“The goal with it was more wayfinding for visitors, especially coming off of the waterfront park area, the aquarium, to guide them to the Market,” said Mya Acosta, a spokesperson for the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority.
Commercial signage company Plumb Signs posted on social media that it was hired to install the sign, “adding even more character and wayfinding magic to this legendary Seattle landmark.” The sign is over 16 feet tall and is the first new large neon sign for the Market in nearly 100 years.
The new sign also clearly identifies the landmark as “Pike Place Market,” not “Public Market Center,” “Public Market,” or “Farmers Market,” as other signs in front of the Market do. The newest sign matches the style of the older signage’s bright red neon.
Seattle’s Waterfront Park opened last year after a decade and a half and $800 million in the making, transforming the downtown waterfront’s accessibility and foot traffic. Overlook Walk — a set of staircases, ramps and platforms — connects Pike Place Market to the park below.
While the waterfront was sometimes the secondary attraction for folks who have done touring the Market, it now holds its own.
The Market’s restoration and cleanings often spook residents to worry changes may come to the Seattle icon established in 1907. The Gum Wall, for instance, is periodically cleaned, and the sign at Pike Street and Pike Place was repainted in 2022, prompting the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority to clear the air that the sign wasn’t removed or replaced with a digital clock.
If heading from the waterfront, though, make sure to circle the Market before leaving to snap a selfie at the famous clock and sign, the backdrop of millions of Seattle visitors’ photos.
Lauren Girgis: 206-652-6591 or lgirgis@seattletimes.com. Lauren Girgis is a law and justice reporter at The Seattle Times, where she reports on crime and public safety trends, prisons and juvenile detention facilities and breaking news.
