Meet the Producer: Pike Place Market

No, not the album producer, haha. Pike Place Market in Seattle turns 100 this week! Since it's one of my most favorite places on the planet, a Birthday post is in order. I go there every time I'm in Seattle where my sister and her family live, sometimes multiple times just to hang out and take in the scenery. There are the famous fish flingers... the freshest peaches and berries and every kind of vegetable you could think of trying... rows and rows of fresh flowers, local blackberry honey for the tasting, dried apricots by the bag, and a tea store tucked in with the stalls housing every type of plant you can steep in hot water imagineable. Street musicians and performers dot the sidewalks and add color to the grey street on grey sky motif... Across the street from the market is a bakery that sells pumpkin cookies as big as my head (and my head is pretty big, kids)...and down the way is the first Starbucks ever. The flagship store. The little coffeehouse that people hung out in after buying their strawberries and apples and bing cherries. One of my favorite moments ever was outside of that Starbucks. I had just bought a latte and was about to head over to the flower stalls for a look, and a big man was preaching on the sidewalk with a booming voice. He had a kindness about him and clearly a joy radiated from him because he loved telling people about God. I told him to have a good day because he made me happy, and he stops me. He asks me my name, and he says, "Jana...God is talking to me right now. God says this year is your year. I don't know what he has in store for you, but he is going to bless you beyond your wildest imagination." It was like busting open a fortune cookie on the sidewalk, I swear. That was last year, and 2006 turned out to be a pretty good one. Not a cakewalk, by any means...but a good one. So has 2007. I'd like to think if I ran into him again, in any year, that preacher on the sidewalk would tell me the same thing. That's kind of nice. Happy Birthday, Pike Place! Here's to 100 More.