20 years worth of chewing gum to be cleaned from Seattle wall

SEATTLE, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Seattle's famous gum wall is set to be cleaned with hot steam to remove 20 years worth of discarded chewing gum congealed into a sticky mess.

The Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority, or PDA, announced the gum will be removed from the famous Pike Place Market gum wall after 20 years of locals and tourists using it as a final destination for their discarded gum.

PDA spokeswoman Emily Crawford told the Seattle Times that contractor Cascadian Building Maintenance has been hired to use an industrial steam machine on the wall "because it's going to be a very large job," expected to take up to three days.

"This is probably the weirdest job we've done," said Kelly Foster of Cascadian Building Maintenance. The clean-up effort is scheduled to commence at 8 a.m. Nov. 20, and in the meantime fans are being encouraged to share their favorite gum wall photos on the PDA's Facebook page for a Gum Wall Snap! contest.

Crawford says she doesn't expect the clean-up to deter future use of the gum wall, which was dubbed by TripAdvisor as the world's second most germ-ridden tourist attraction.

"We're not saying it can't come back," Crawford said. "We need to wipe the canvas clean and keep [it] fresh."