Portland considers creating a gum wall similar to Seattle’s controversial attraction

To maintain its unique and quirky character, Portland should avoid replicating Seattle’s famous but unsanitary Gum Wall by creating a similar attraction of its own.

Portland may soon have its own version of Seattle’s famous Gum Wall, according to recent reports. A tattoo studio in downtown Portland, RONIN, posted a Facebook event inviting people to come down on May 5 to chew gum and stick it to a wall on 3rd Avenue and Northwest Couch Street. The event is meant to mimic Seattle’s Pike Place Market Gum Wall, a popular tourist attraction where visitors have been sticking their used gum on the wall for over 20 years. However, some Portland residents are not enthusiastic about the idea and would prefer the city to stick to its traditional weirdness instead.

According to a recent Facebook event posted by the RONIN tattoo studio located at 3rd Avenue and Northwest Couch Street, Portlanders are apparently planning to create their own chewing gum wall similar to Seattle’s famous Gum Wall at Pike Place Market. The event invited people to come down to the studio on May 5, chew gum, and stick it to the wall. The studio planned to throw a party to promote the gum wall, with free food and drinks for those over 21 years of age. Additionally, participants who brought $20 worth of gum along with the receipt would receive a $150 voucher for a tattoo at the studio.

According to the Portland Mercury, a Facebook event posted by RONIN Living Art Studio has invited people to come down and stick chewed gum on the side of a building, mimicking Seattle’s Gum Wall. The event has caused controversy, with the Portland Mercury calling it an “abomination” that needs to be stopped. The newspaper conducted a vote on its website, which has received over 400 votes so far, with 78 percent of voters saying no to the idea, citing Seattle’s Post Alley Gum Wall as an example of what Portland should not do.

Lizzy Acker from The Oregonian expressed her disgust about the proposed chewing gum wall in Portland, calling it an unsanitary idea. She compared it to Seattle’s Gum Wall, which was cleaned in 2015 but is now returning. Acker emphasized that the idea is revolting since it involves dealing with someone else’s saliva-softened chewing gum, carelessly disposed of on an object, which can be difficult to remove. She went further to say that creating a wall out of such gross materials and calling it a tourist attraction is a bad idea.

According to The Seattle Times, last year, the multi-colored accumulation of gum that clung to the bricks and surrounding objects of Seattle’s Gum Wall, which had been there for 20 years, weighed a total of 1.175 tons.

Let’s hope that the people in Portland can come up with unique and creative ways to keep their city weird without resorting to copying Seattle’s unsanitary and unsightly gum wall.

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