Seattle Culture
Unlock the Unknown at Pioneer Square Scavenger Hunt
Promotion aims to boost neighborhood’s art galleries
By Seattle Mag June 16, 2025
Somewhere in the art gallery Laura Van Horne opened six years ago is a piece of art depicting a crushed Starbucks cup. You may want to remember that.
Van Horne’s Gray Sky Gallery is among the 14 Pioneer Square galleries participating in a scavenger hunt from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 21. Each gallery features a different clue, and participants will be entered into a drawing for one of two pairs of lower-level tickets to a Mariners game.
The promotion builds on an earlier effort called “Tulip Trek,” where visitors to each gallery received a tulip and, if they hit all 14, left with a bouquet. The promotions are designed to draw people to Pioneer Square, a neighborhood Van Horne says has struggled since the pandemic.
“The whole city has just kind of forgotten about Pioneer Square. Foot traffic has gone down significantly,” says Van Horne, noting that the Tulip Trek led to an estimated 50% bump in foot traffic. “Sometimes on a Thursday or Friday, maybe one person will come (to my gallery) the whole day I’m open. Saturdays are better, but I’ve noticed it’s significantly down.”
Customers will be given one sheet of paper and a map of participating galleries. The ticket drawing will be held at 6 p.m., and Van Horne hopes participants will linger in the neighborhood all day. She promises the clues — which have no common theme — won’t prove daunting. Hers, for instance, should be easy to find. The promotion is funded by The Alliance for Pioneer Square.
Participants are:
ArtX Contemporary; CoCA; Chatwin Arts; Davidson Galleries: Foster/White Gallery; Gallery 110; Gallery NW; Gray Sky Gallery; Greg Kucera Gallery; J. Rinehart Gallery; Shelterwood Collective; SlipStitch Studio; Stonington Gallery; and Taswira.
Van Horne says similar events will occur quarterly.
“When people come down here they tell me ‘Oh, I haven’t been here in five years. It’s not that bad,’” she says. “There are new restaurants opening. Some new galleries have opened and new businesses are popping up. There are reasons to come down here.”
And you now know the answer to one clue, but you’ll have to wander around Van Horne’s gallery to find it.
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