In 1991, the people of Seattle may have started the weirdest, germiest, and stickiest local attraction. They started tacking their chewed gum onto the wall in Post Alley. Now, the famous Gum Wall is over 8 feet high and 54 feet wide and is decorated by a million pieces of chewed gum.

The first pieces of gum were stuck onto the wall by impatient ticketholders waiting in line for a show at Pike Place Market. To pass the time, they made designs with the gum and stuck pennies in it; this was the beginning of the now famous Gum Wall.

For the next eight years, market officials scraped off gum, deeming it uncleanly. After people continued to stick their gum on the wall, the market reconsidered its policy. In 1999, The Gum Wall was officially named a tourist attraction. It was left to the people of Seattle to add all the gum they pleased. Any passerbys can take part in the gum extravaganza, often taking wacky photos against the wall.

On November 3rd, 2015, Seattle’s Pike Place Market announced a complete scrub down of the wall. This is the first cleaning of the wall in over 20 years. The sugar in the immense volume of gum is gradually eating away at the brick walls. Starting November 10th, The Gum Wall will be steam cleaned, stripping off an estimated 1 million pieces of chewing gum. This deep clean will take several days because an average of 150 pieces of gum are squeezed onto each brick.

After the wall is cleaned, people are encouraged to start putting their gum back on the wall. Before the cleaning, a photo contest will be held for Gum Wall Photos (check out the link here).