“An immersive art experience by LA Wiltbank in the freight elevator” will be part of the Chophouse Row end of things (Image: LA Wiltbank )
The inaugural Pike/Pine Social: Spring Fashion Walk will take place Saturday and Sunday, May 17th and 18th at Melrose Market, 11th Ave’s Chophouse Row, and up and down Pike and Pine at the neighborhood’s shops, restaurants, and “creative spaces.”
“What makes Pike/Pine special is its texture and grit—the layered history you feel in both the physical architecture and the spirit of the shops and restaurants,” Dunn writes in a guest editorial in Seattle Business Magazine (PDF) setting up the new event.
“Seattle’s culture is not something that exists just for us to consume; we are all participants in shaping it.”
The Pike/Pine Social event will include “50+” businesses and a mix of fashion, food, music and events through the day. Melrose Ave will serve as a central gathering point for the weekend, featuring food pop-ups, wine tastings, live music, as well as designer and vintage clothing vendors like Glasswing, Barn Owl Vintage, and Likelihood.
Meanwhile, Pike/Pine shops and restaurants including Standard Goods, Retail Therapy, Veridis, Mediums Collective, and “many others” will “showcase new seasonal offerings and offer product discounts, while designers and artists at such destinations as the Eleven:Eleven art center will activate spaces with pop- ups, installations, and open studios. Visitors can expect live music, DJ sets, food and drink specials, wine tastings, and a dynamic mix of retail and cultural programming across the neighborhood.”
Chophouse Row will be busy Saturday hosting a series of fashion, beauty, and cultural activations culminating in a 3 PM live runway show as models “will move through the courtyard’s steel walkways andarchitectural elements, creating an immersive fashion experience.’
The Pike/Pine event comes after years of smaller attempts to organize small business-friendly walks and sales following the implosion of Capitol Hill’s chamber of commerce and amid growing challenges for retail in the neighborhood. Dunn’s Chophouse Row has hosted a remarkably stable roster of businesses and its latest hole is about to be filled by a new Sea’d In seafood project from restaurateur Heong Soon Park. Melrose Market, which she also developed before it was sold in 2019 to national shopping center developer Regency Centers, is a different story with longtime neighborhood butcher Rain Shadow Meats announcing it was leaving the development later this year after losing its lease. Financial issues also recently shuttered the market’s Cafe Suliman — though its owner says he plans to reopen.
In her essay about the effort, Dunn focused not on the bottom line but on connection.
“At its core, this event is not about shopping,” Dunn wrote. “It’s about creating a reason for people to come together, to reconnect, and to experience the neighborhood as a shared space.”
While organizers have been busy reaching to neighborhood businesses, it’s not too late if you want to get involved. “We’ve been scrambling to get the word out and have no doubt missed some folks in our ongoing outreach efforts,” Dunn tells CHS.
You can get in contact and learn more at pikepinesocial.com.
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