MERCEDES CARRABBA

Storyteller. Author. Designer. Coffee Roaster.

For over 40 years my family has operated a studio in Pike Place Market. As artists, the market offered my parents the perfect community to establish their business. My mother paints watercolors of the northwest. My father, who passed in 2016, was the “Mayor of Pike Place” and active in local politics. I built two businesses in the market, The Market Ghost Tour and Ghost Alley Espresso. The very first walking tour of Pike Place Market was established in 1996 by the Pike Place Market Merchant’s Association. I wrote the content and trained the guides. In the process of researching market history I learned the ghost stories of the community and encountered a few myself. I wrote a book about those stories called Seattle’s Market Ghost Stories.

The market has provided an incredible home for me all these years. For the past few, I roasted coffee and was a guest vendor at Pike Place, selling coffee and tea on the tables. I have now left Pike Place Market. My husband and I own a home in Cobh, Ireland. It is an incredible town with many elements that mirror Seattle and the market; cruise ships lining the deep harbor, music filling the streets, public art, strong tourism, and many small businesses. I am pursuing a Post Graduate degree at UCC in Food Innovation. Originally born in Spain (that is why my name is Mercedes) I am pursuing residency in the EU. You can visit my mother, Sarah Clementson, at her shop, Studio Solstone. She still produces her yearly calendar and fills her small studio with original art. She also will be a good source to find out what I am up to…