The Pike Place Market Foundation: An Interview with Patricia Gray
We’re still riding the high of celebrating Can Can’s 18th Can Canniversary, and we’re delighted to throw even more confetti for a dear, dear friend of ours. This month, we had the pleasure of interviewing Patricia Gray, the Director of Philanthropy for the Pike Place Market Foundation, about the growing impact of the foundation and how it's nurtured a healthy and thriving community within Seattle over the last 40 years.
Patricia Gray and Mr. Pink posing with Rachel the Pig | Photo by Vicente Capala
“That is the authenticity of Pike Place Market, right?” chimes Patricia. “We are the number one tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest, but, at the same time, we are this incredible neighborhood that supports each other, shows up for each other, and works together.”
As a passionate partner of the Pike Place Market Foundation, Can Can is proud to support the foundation's efforts in providing critical services to the community, such as healthcare, housing, and food assistance. If you’ve had one of our featured cocktails, then you’ve supported the Market Foundation, as well! We always have a fabulously concocted cocktail on our menu that directly supports the foundation with each order.
Keep reading to hear about Patricia’s insights on the foundation's history, mission, and how it's making a positive impact on the lives of those in need in the Seattle area.
THECANCAN.COM: Can you tell us about the history and mission of the Pike Place Market Foundation?
Patricia Gray: The Pike Place Market Foundation was created in 1982, but it really all began in 1971 when the Pike Place Market was officially saved from demolition. The Market survived by winning an initiative on the ballots in 1971 where two different advocacy groups were campaigning there. One group was campaigning to tear down and rebuild a majority of the Market. The other group, who thankfully succeeded, is the Friends of The Market – a group of community activists and urban planners who understood the value of the historic nine acres of Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle and fought a grassroots effort to save it. The ballot initiative in 1971 not only preserved the nine acres of the historic district of the Market but also put it into a federal landmark preservation charter, which preserved the uses of the market and its historic buildings. The charter also established that the nine-acre district will always be a place where farmers can sell directly to customers, where small businesses in Seattle can get started, and where folks can find a community that supports low-income and senior housing and support services within the market community.
Celebrating the Market then… | Courtesy of the Pike Place Market Foundation
…and celebrating the Market now! | Photo by Lauren Wolbaum
The Pike Place Market Preservation Development Authority was also formed in 1971. They run the market on behalf of the city. Their goal was to restore the Market and bring it back to a viable community by bringing back businesses and supporting the efforts of farmers. The challenge became funding the social services that would eventually be a solid base of support within the market. That's when the Market Foundation was created in 1982. The goal was to leverage the love that people have for Pike Place Market and turn it into support for the community, social services, and supporting low-income housing residents within the Market. We were created to fundraise, advocate, and partner with social services to keep that core part of the mission of the Market strong.
Here we are, 40 years later, and we've dedicated over $40 million in direct financial contributions to support the network of social services in the Market, which includes a medical clinic, a senior center, a food bank, a preschool, and Providence Heritage House, which is assisted living for seniors. We also operate our own program center called The Market Commons, which is a resource center to help people navigate all the supports they may need to live healthy lives. We've helped build and maintain the nearly 500 units of low-income housing within the Market, and we’ve also participated in several heritage and preservation projects. We're involved in a little bit of everything from helping raise the funds for re-flooring the Market back in 1984 to raising funds for the more recent expansion of the MarketFront. Our core mission is really to focus on our community and make sure our community of social services and support remains healthy.
We just published a whole series of stories on our website about our 40th birthday to look back on how it all started and what kind of impact we've made in the community over the last 40 years. Check it out!
THECANCAN.COM: What does a happy, healthy, and uplifted community look like and how does the Market Foundation help us get there?
Patricia Gray: In 2017, we formally adapted the model for a healthy community called the Social Determinants of Health, an internationally regarded model for what community health requires. To live and participate in a healthy community, everyone has access to food, the means for economic stability, education, health care, social connections, and neighborhood and physical environment. Those are the six key attributes of what it takes to build healthy communities. We realized that this model has become well-known and well-researched over the past decade, and we've been adhering to much of this since our beginnings in 1982.
Stella and Velma at The Market Commons | Photo by Lauren Wolbaum
The Social Determinants of Health model is a place-based model. When you have a geographic definition, we're able to look at anybody who lives, works, or accesses social services within our nine-acre neighborhood. We can measure how well we’re doing as far as access to healthy foods, economic stability, and every other element regarding the health of our community. We then find the resources and support that health requires. We're able to measure our progress and measure our goals against this model, which involves listening to the community and asking the community what it is that they need. That's where our community resource center comes into play.
Our community resource center was opened in 2017, along with the opening of the MarketFront expansion, and is our hub for connecting with community members. It's designed to be an open door where anybody can walk through and access the support of our resource navigation team. It could be somebody who's experiencing homelessness downtown. It could be a market worker who got sick and missed a lot of work and is unable to pay rent this next month. It could be a low-income senior whose social security check isn't covering all the cost of food that they need for a month. It could also just be somebody who feels lonely and needs someone to talk to. Social connection is a key component of community health.
Small business at the Market | Photo by Lauren Wolbaum
We also work in partnership with agencies such as the Pike Market Child Care and Preschool, the Neighborcare Health at Pike Market, the Pike Market Senior Center & Food Bank, and Providence Heritage House at the Market. Those are all independent organizations, but we've worked in partnership with them all for 40 years now. Our role with them is we provide annual, unrestricted funding. We're a major funder of each of those organizations. When the pandemic hit, this whole array of services built up in the Market became crucial. We had these partnerships, and we had this trust established with the community. When the biggest crisis of our lifetime hit, we were able to pop up programs within days to respond and convert all of the services to adapt to the new requirements of social isolation. With 500 seniors living above the storefronts in the Market, we had to pop up emergency grocery and meal delivery programs.
One of our biggest programs that emerged out of the pandemic was the Small Business Recovery Fund, which we were able to launch by the summer of 2020. To date, we've distributed over $1M to 154 businesses in the Market. This is a program that didn’t exist before 2020, and we were able to adapt so quickly and respond to a need like this because our model is designed to be flexible, to respond to exactly what the current needs in the community are. Our resource team can build programs in response to what we're hearing from the community. That's the beauty of the model; it's never set in stone. It emerges and evolves with what we're hearing and learning from community members. When your goal is to nurture a thriving market community, so that everyone could live their best life possible, that's exactly what it takes. It takes personal outreach, personal relationships, trust, and understanding the variety of needs that our community is facing. It’s a model that we don't see anywhere else here locally in Seattle, but I think it became especially poignant during the pandemic.
THECANCAN.COM: Let's talk Can Can! How has your and the Foundation's relationship with Can Can developed over time?
Patricia Gray: That is the authenticity of Pike Place Market, right? We are the number one tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest, but, at the same time, we are this incredible neighborhood that supports each other, shows up for each other, and works together. That's why the fabric of Pike Place Market is made up of these 500 small business owners, the 500 senior residents who live above the storefront, our whole network of social service agencies, and all the different organizations that work together to keep this beautiful balance of a community and a mission strong. Without all that working behind the scenes, Pike Place Market wouldn't be what it is today. I think that's the real demonstration of a healthy community, right? You come into this place, and you just know that something is different here. There's something beautifully eclectic, authentic, and real about this place. Those urban planners and community advocates put this model into motion in 1971, and now we get to live it out today more than 50 years later.
We love our partnerships with market merchants. Every merchant we work with does it differently and the Can Can, of course, always brings its own flair and its wonderful talents to the spotlight.
Mr. Pink going HOG wild at “Pig Day Out” in 2019 | Photo by Art Kuniyuki
Let's see, where did it all begin with Mr. Pink? It all started in 2017. We invited the Can Can to be part of the grand opening of the new MarketFront Expansion. We were planning this red carpet, an initial sneak peek of the MarketFront with our donors who had supported this new expansion. We wanted to put on a fabulous show. And of course, when I think of a fabulous show in Pike Place Market, I think of none other than the Can Can. Chris and the dance team immediately said, “Yes, we will be there!” Throughout the event, they were escorts on the red carpet welcoming our donors, while Chris was a host of the event. Then, in 2019 we celebrated the Lunar Year of the Pig. Of course, with the pig being our mascot of the Pike Place Market Foundation, we had to do a few things really special. We worked with the Chinese International District community to create a Lunar New Year Pig. Her name is Golden Pearl, and she went on tour that year and celebrated at all of these Lunar New Year parties. We also wanted to bring it home to the Market and do something authentically us. We found this team of farmers who had baby pigs, threw down some hay on the cobblestones, and created a race track. Chris was our announcer for the Pig Races. Anything and everything that happens at Pike Place Market is always fun and extremely creative.
From there, Chris was like, “I want to create an opportunity for everyone who attends Can Can to learn about the Pike Place Market Foundation and have an opportunity to support them.” So – we've gone from pre-pandemic, where we were a charity of choice on their ticketing website, to today, with the new expanded theater location of Can Can, where Chris has made it a priority to create a signature drink with every new show that directly benefits the Market Foundation.
We're extremely grateful for all of the ways that the Can Can shows up and supports our community. They bring their talents and come out to participate in our wacky events and fun shows, but they also understand the importance of providing financial support so that these services and housing we're providing in the community are viable.
THECANCAN.COM: What advice can you give to individuals who are interested in getting started in community support and services, especially in and around Seattle?
Patricia Gray: There are a lot of opportunities to support the services at Pike Place Market. By donating to the Market Foundation, your support is spread throughout the community. It could go to supporting farmers, residents, and folks at the food bank all at the same time. You could also search out individual agencies within the market such as our preschool, senior center, and food bank.
Can Can showing up to support the Market Foundation at Sunset Supper | Photo by Art Kuniyuki.
The Market Foundation does several fundraisers throughout the year. Coming up on May 18 is Celebrate the Market. It's one of our biggest fundraising events of the year where we'll have dinner on the MarketFront and share stories of our impact. Can Can is a sponsor of that event, by the way! Then, on August 18th is the Sunset Supper at Pike Place Market, which is our largest event of the year. It's a huge tasting event in the middle of the Market on a beautiful summer day. We have over 100 chefs, wineries, and breweries who show up and put out their wonderful tastes for the evening. 1800 guests attend. It's an event that sells out every summer, and, with the new MarketFront, we've got a wonderful sunset view that turns into a big dance party with a live band on a big stage. It’s lots of fun, lots to eat and drink, and just an unforgettable evening at Pike Place Market.
In addition to events or making direct donations, there are many opportunities throughout the year where folks can get involved. We do giving drives, such as the hygiene drive that’s currently going on. Folks can participate by donating anything from shampoo to toothpaste and toiletries in support of our neighbors. We even have community groups and companies get involved by doing a No Cook Bag Drive for the food bank. The food bank is then able to provide our neighbors, who are either experiencing homelessness or don't have regular access to a kitchen, with bags of ready-to-eat food. They give out a couple hundred of these bags every week in addition to the traditional grocery bags full of food that they give out to households.
THECANCAN.COM: What is a goal you hope to reach within the next year with the Pike Place Market Foundation?
Preschoolers and their daffodils | Photo by Lauren Wolbaum
Patricia Gray: The impact of the pandemic continues to challenge the economic stability of our community. The cost of living keeps getting higher, and for people who were already living on very low incomes, whose budgets were already stretched just to meet basic needs – that math problem just becomes impossible. We are seeing an increased need for food. We're seeing an increased need for rent and different financial support. We’re seeing community members feeling hopeless about how they're gonna make it all work. That's where our whole array of support services comes into play.
One of the goals of our resource navigators at The Market Commons is to provide help for people who are experiencing different, everyday struggles. For someone who is having trouble paying for food every month, we would help enroll them in food stamps and get them access to the bounty of nutritious food sold at Pike Place Market, where folks can double their food stamps when they shop at one of the farm stalls or produce vendors in the market. We also have programs like Protein Bucks. We're able to distribute this resource to community members, and it allows them to shop the Pike Place Fish Market, Don and Joe's Meats, and the Pike Place Market Creamery to get those essential proteins that they need that are usually very expensive to fit into your grocery bill. We sign people up for health care. Right now, we're doing free tax prep for people.
Our focus for this year is helping people find new ways to regain and maintain economic stability. Our focus is on our service workers in the market, our senior residents who are living on social security, and our downtown neighbors who are very low-income and are experiencing homelessness. How do we help them meet their basic needs? Beyond that, how do we help them get into housing, find more stability, and find access to the care that they need? It's a long road to coming out of this pandemic and finding a new level of stability, and we are here to help.
We hope to see you at one of the Pike Place Market Foundation’s upcoming events! To learn more about the Foundation and its impact, please visit its website. To support the Foundation during your visit to Can Can, order yourself our featured cocktail, and cheers to a healthy community!