Long before our first visit to Seattle, I had heard about Pike Place Market. I don’t remember how or why. It’s certainly one of the more highly promoted attractions in the greater Puget Sound region so I may have simply read about it in one of my travel magazines at some point.

When we moved here, my former coworkers bought us one of the most thoughtful farewell gifts– cooking lessons at Pike Place Market! What a perfect pairing of our interest in the culinary arts and our desire to get to know more about Seattle!

We’ve taken countless friends and family to Pike Place Market during their visits as well. We love nothing more than exploring the shops, catching some amazing views of the Sound, enjoying the buskers, and picking up some fresh fish, produce and flowers to prepare a local meal once we get back home.

While we don’t always enjoy its crowds and still haven’t explored its every nook and cranny, we have always appreciated the market’s story and position in Seattle history.

In fall 2016 I came across a magazine article or ad (I can’t remember) about the Pike Place MarketFront expansion project. I was interested in the project–enough so that I tore our the page and eventually manually entered the URL online to learn more! I read about the planned expansion and was interested in the many ways they were fundraising to support the project.

While the major donor opportunities were a little outside my price range, I loved the option of purchasing and customizing a market charm. These metal charms were going to be installed in the openings of the fencing in the new MarketFront space– what an awesome twist on the traditional buying a brick concept!

I quickly decided to create one with our names on it so we could leave our mark on the market and Seattle. I placed our order and immediately received several emails from the foundation thanking us for the donation and letting us know we would likely be able to visit our charms when the expansion was completed in summer 2017.

Your donation is helping us finish the new Pike Place MarketFront, which will provide more space for farmers, artists, local businesses, restaurants, as well as 40 new low-income housing units and a new Neighborhood Center.

I didn’t hear much about the project until the grand opening at the end of June. I was excited to see that everything had progressed and was opening on schedule, and I couldn’t wait to visit and try to find our charm!

As tends to be the case, the summer got away from us and in the months following the grand opening, we couldn’t seem to make it to the market. I kept the friendly email noting our charm number and linking to the map for finding our charm, but months went by and we still didn’t have an opportunity to visit.

Our day finally arrived during my parents’ recent visit to see us! They have been to the market multiple times so I didn’t want to make it the sole destination of our trip downtown, but when our plans took us to see the Jim Henson exhibit at MoPop, it was easy to justify a little extra time to swing by and seek out our charm!

I found our number and was just in the process of pulling up the map when Brian called out that he had found it! Sure enough, there it was– swaying in the breeze and perfectly positioned on the outdoor space on the upper level of the addition, overlooking Pier 57.

What a fun opportunity to support the market’s expansion while leaving our mark on Seattle. Now, no matter where life takes us, we can point to our charm and remember — we were here.