Once again this holiday season the family of Crystal Lamb Bull gathered at the Market to buy their fresh ingredients for Christmas dinner, just as they have for the past 62 years. Traditions often start under inconspicuous circumstances but it seems that Crystal knew exactly what she was doing in 1955 when she first gathered her small family together at Pike Place Market. Crystal would come all the way from Portland, Oregon, by train, and use the little money she had saved as a sewing machine operator to take her daughter, Nancy, her son-in-law, Ray, and their little ones to the Market to buy ingredients for their holiday dinner. Eventually, Nancy and Ray’s family grew to six children but Crystal just saved a little more every year so she could do what she loved – provide the family with her very special Christmas gift year after year.
The family continued to grow as Nancy and Ray’s children grew up, got married and had children of their own. They continued to pass along and honor this special Christmas tradition; even after Crystal passed away in 1984 the family still headed to the Market each year just before Christmas to get their fresh fixin’s for their cherished Christmas gathering. For them it is an opportunity to reunite with loved ones near and far, many family members even continue to travel from out of state!
It should come as no surprise then that the family chose to recognize Crystal’s special tradition at the Market by donating for a tile during the 1980s tile campaign to refloor the Market. Finding her tile together has become a special added bonus of their annual family trips to Pike Place Market. And now they have a new stop to add to their trip to the Market! This holiday season the family chose to inscribe Market Charms for Nancy and Ray so that their names would also live on at the Market. The whole family is anxiously waiting for the Charms to be installed in late February so they can witness another generation’s name, written into the history of Pike Place Market.
Join Nancy and Ray on the market Charm fence overlooking the Puget Sound. To write your family’s name into the history of Pike Place Market click here.