Happy Birthday to America’s original (and still most amazing) farmer’s market — Pike Place. If you’ll be in Seattle soon, check out Farm Days on the Cobblestones, happening now through Sept. 28.
Garrison Keillor pays tribute to the historic market in today’s Writer’s Almanac:
On this date in 1907, Pike Place Market opened in Seattle. It’s the oldest continuously operating farmer’s market in the United States, and it covers the waterfront: nine acres overlooking Elliott Bay. On opening day, eight farmers brought in their wagons full of produce, and they were met by about 10,000 eager shoppers. Now, more than a hundred years later, the merchants gather at nine o’clock every morning and a market master takes their shouted request for stalls: about 130 free spaces for 225 approved vendors. If your first choice is taken, you’d better have a second, or third, ready, because they don’t wait. They manage to sort everything out in less than 20 minutes.
