Pike Place Market is officially 100

Horse-drawn wagons full of produce pulled into First Avenue and Pike Street Friday morning, 100 years to the day — and almost to the minute — that a similar scene gave birth to Pike Place Market.

The re-enactment of the Market's genesis set the stage for a day of centennial events that culminated with a free concert under the stars at Victor Steinbrueck Park.

As the once-a-century celebration packed the Market's cobblestone streets, tiled arcades and underground warrens, the Market went to work, with vendors hawking their goods and merchants satisfying the masses.

Tong and Maika Xiong, Hmong immigrant farmers who have been at the Market since 1992, sold sweet basil, beets and other produce off one of the carts pulled by the horses, an honor that Market management bestowed upon the couple.

"I enjoy the Market," Maika Xiong said. "Every minute of it."

Pike Place Market dates back to Aug. 17, 1907, when farmers revolted against price-gouging produce brokers. In response to the price of onions rising from 10 cents a pound to $1 a pound, local farmers — egged on by populist City Councilman Thomas Revelle — brought their produce to the corner of First and Pike to sell directly to the consumer.

That morning, a summer rainstorm greeted the farmers, who weren't quite prepared when desperate housewives rushed in — knocking over at least one farmer — and bought them out.

Friday morning, sun filtered through the clouds and the scene was more controlled. The 100th-birthday celebration began with free onion tarts from the Market's Le Panier Very French Bakery. Starbucks, which got its start at the Market, provided free coffee chasers.

At a noontime ceremony, some of those integral to the Market's history, including the Revelle family, received recognition.

Former City Councilmember and King County Executive Randy Revelle repeated the words of a speech given by his great-uncle on Nov. 29, 1907, the day the Market was formally dedicated: "Soon this city will have one of the greatest markets in the world."

Joe Desimone Jr., a descendant of the farming family that managed the Market during much of its first century, called upon the people and politicians of Seattle to continue to respect the legacy of the Market's first 100 years.

"The Market was one of the few places where people who had little or no education could get a start in business," he said. There are very few places where people are as accepting, he added.

Celebrants lined up three deep along Pike Place to witness Friday morning's re-enactment. Some in the crowd had deep connections to the Market, like 101-year-old Grace Stanchfield, who lives at Providence Heritage House, an assisted-living center at the Market.

"I'm older than the Market," declared Stanchfield, balancing against a walker and recalling the days she visited the Market as a child.

"There were no buildings and the road was all dirt. My father got a horse and buggy at the livery stable at Green Lake where we lived and brought me and my four sisters down to the Market. We'd get out of the wagon and play in the dirt."

Stanchfield said she used to bring her two sons to the Market, just as her father brought her.

"We'd go through the Market, get a bowl of pea soup for five cents at Manning's" — a cafeteria in the space now occupied by Lowell's Restaurant & Bar — she said. "I'm so glad to be here today. I love the Market."

Friday afternoon, a dozen contestants competed in a salmon toss, presided over by two Pike Place Fish Co. fishmongers. A.J. Swanton of Ballard emerged the winner, catching the headless sockeye with one hand from about 30 feet away. Swanton explained his winning technique: "Just be one with the fish. I did some meditating this morning, lit some candles."

Really?

"No."

It hasn't changed in 100 years: Everyone at Pike Place Market has a story.