IT WAS MORE than a century ago that farmer’s dragged wagons of their vegetables to Elliot Bay to protest the high prices charged by middlemen. By selling directly to a grateful public, Seattle’s Pike Place Market was born.

            On August 17, what has since become the most revered public market in the U.S. celebrates a century of egalitarian commerce with daylong celebrations on the area’s well-polished cobblestone, including an evening concert and fireworks. The big bash is preceded with a week-long party that kicks off with a “Sunset Supper” on August 10, catered by the plethora of restaurants and farmers – some old, some new – and attended by thousands of tourists, locals and prospective residents eyeing the area’s proposed upscale condo projects, like the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences

            And although we won’t speculate on the asking price, we will sere up a sampling of Pile Place by the numbers after 100 years of fresh veggies and tossed fish.