Pike Place Market's iconic pig missing after crash
SEATTLE - A popular metal pig at Seattle's Pike Place Market is missing Saturday after it took one on the snout overnight.
A taxi driver hit the gas when his cab was rear-ended nearby and plowed into Rachel the Pig, a 550-pound, bronze piggy bank that has stood outside the market's famous fish-throwing stand since 1986.
The crash knocked the downtown icon off her concrete base, which will have to be repaired. The statue itself was also scratched up a bit.
During her absence - which is expected to last a few days - Seattleites will have to make do without her, somehow.
She's a meeting place, a photo stop. Some people have kissed her, some have sat on her.
"She's absolutely an icon," says Diane LaVonne. "People don't realize she has a name. I say meet me by Rachel, and people are like, 'Who's Rachel?' I'm like, 'You know - the big brass pig by the market.'"
For now there's just an empty place where Rachel once stood and smiled her enigmatic smile.
"Yeah, it's definitely a hole in the market for sure," says Noah Parriott.
"I think the lack of Rachel stands out. It definitely looks barren," agrees Nate Hinde.
LaVonne, who leads tours of the market, says, "We start at Rachel the Pig, and I've got a group I'm supposed to meet, and I'm gonna be like, 'Well, we're supposed to meet by Rachel, but since she got kinda taken .... '"
No one knows how many thousands of pictures have been taken of Rachel. But until she's rebuilt, she won't be available for photo ops.
So in the meantime, shutterbugs will just have to make do with the Space Needle and the market's famed flying fish for their photo backdrops.
But it won't last forever. The porcine icon is expected to back as early as Wednesday.
The piggy bank collects $6,000 to $9,000 every year. The money helps pay for social services.
A taxi driver hit the gas when his cab was rear-ended nearby and plowed into Rachel the Pig, a 550-pound, bronze piggy bank that has stood outside the market's famous fish-throwing stand since 1986.
The crash knocked the downtown icon off her concrete base, which will have to be repaired. The statue itself was also scratched up a bit.
During her absence - which is expected to last a few days - Seattleites will have to make do without her, somehow.
She's a meeting place, a photo stop. Some people have kissed her, some have sat on her.
"She's absolutely an icon," says Diane LaVonne. "People don't realize she has a name. I say meet me by Rachel, and people are like, 'Who's Rachel?' I'm like, 'You know - the big brass pig by the market.'"
For now there's just an empty place where Rachel once stood and smiled her enigmatic smile.
"Yeah, it's definitely a hole in the market for sure," says Noah Parriott.
"I think the lack of Rachel stands out. It definitely looks barren," agrees Nate Hinde.
LaVonne, who leads tours of the market, says, "We start at Rachel the Pig, and I've got a group I'm supposed to meet, and I'm gonna be like, 'Well, we're supposed to meet by Rachel, but since she got kinda taken .... '"
No one knows how many thousands of pictures have been taken of Rachel. But until she's rebuilt, she won't be available for photo ops.
So in the meantime, shutterbugs will just have to make do with the Space Needle and the market's famed flying fish for their photo backdrops.
But it won't last forever. The porcine icon is expected to back as early as Wednesday.
The piggy bank collects $6,000 to $9,000 every year. The money helps pay for social services.
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