On August 17th, Friday, the Pike Place Market turns 100 and it will be open until 10pm with a concert at Victor Steinbrueck Park. I will be offering tours at 2, 4, and 6 pm. Please purchase tickets in advance by clicking on TICKETS on the right. The 6 pm is close to sold out already - so aim for the 2 or 4 pm. Looking forward to celebrating with you! The Pike Place Market was not always known as "Pike Place Market", is was originally known as Seattle's Public Market. Other markets sprung up around Seattle's Public Market, like the Samitary Market, Triangle Market and others. It became a district of competing markets until the early 1970's and the formation of a historic district. It was then that the name became Pike Place Market. Before that time, markets would compete with eachother. In the 1920's there was an abundance of poultry in Washington State and there was a "war" in the district, each market tried to out do the other in their sales of poultry. And the "war" was brutal: prices fell and diplays got wild as vendors tried to out sell eachother. Vendors in the Sanitary Market created elaborate displays of their poultry by dressing up their chickens in top hats and dresses. They went as far as to create veiled scenes and if you were of age, the curtains would be drawn back, and you could view chickens in erotic positions. These wars became known as the Chicken Wars of the 1920's.