By Jean Godden

Each year the Pike Place Public Market attracts 10 million visitors. Many of those 10 milliion still packed the aisles when I visited last week. I had expected to find the Market far quieter in September. But no. There still were tourists on guided tours, family members pointing out the sights and, luckily for the Market, a few of us householders armed with shopping bags.

The Market was more than ready for the multitude, a merry mob speaking maybe a dozen languages. With its fabulous MarketFront addition now open, the Market has added 47 more day stalls and 300 new parking places (a bargain at $4 an hour). Crossing the Joe Desimone bridge or climbing a stairway from Western Avenue, you reach the new Western Plaza. You are rewarded with a matchless view of ferries sailing across Elliott Bay, freighters destined for Harbor Island and the rugged Olympic mountains beyond.

The glassed-in MarketFront Pavilion is open for business, although Market PDA director Ben Franz-Knight says there's more to come. The new Pavilion presents a wealth of art, jewelry, caps, quilts, paintings and sweatshirts. Billie, one of the Market's two bronze piggybanks, presides over the Pavilion wowing tourists who line up for a chance to pose, shamelessly embracing Billie's shoulders. Billie is a cousin to Rachel, the mascot who holds court under the Market Clock and collects donations -- $10,000 annually -- for Market charities. 

Flower Row on the Market's Main Arcade was glorious last week. There were mixed bouquets of dahlias, lilies, daisies and mums, buckets of sunflowers and bunches of colorful sweet peas. It was a flower-lovers' riot and all so cheap, many bouquets marked just $5. Even the tourists struggled with the urge to adopt the butcher-papered blooms. 

Beyond the flower vendors' tables were fish markets stocked with the bounty of the sea -- rockfish, crab, shrimp, local halibut and salmon, arrayed seductively on beds of shaved ice. Above the displays towered hand-lettered signs: "You Touch; You Buy." 

Next came the "high" stalls brimming with produce: lush tomatoes, purple eggplant, beans, radishes, artichokes and Chinese broccoli, rimmed with baskets of giant blueberries and blackberries. So eye filling were the vegetables that one barely noticed the sign: "Don't Even Think About Disturbing the Display." 

Across the aisle at Sosio's Produce, owner Mike Osborn -- or was it his son Tom? -- was handing out dozens of free samples, shaved from a juicy ripe mango. He offered help selecting from the 120 items that Sosio's stocks, ranging from OMG ("oh my god") peaches to precious black truffles and wild chanterelle mushrooms. 

During my visit, visitors were applauding the buskers who make music, sing or even perform feats of magic. Musical notes painted on Market sidewalks designate where performers can stand. They're allowed but a single hour before they must move on. Liveliest performance that day was a medley of tunes played by piano man Jonny Hahn on his movable piano.

With October soon to come, old-timers say the Market's ghosts -- largest contingent in the city -- are beginning to stir. There used to be Halloween ghost tours conducted by Mercedes Yaeger, daughter of Market artist Sarah Clementson. But Mercedes who calls herself a "Market rat" is taking a sabbatical, too busy running Ghost Alley Espresso near the famed Gum Wall. 

Estimates place the ghostly haunts at more than 19, not unusual for a market built above graveyards, adjacent to a brothel and constructed over the city's first mortuary. My favorite ghost story stars the Fat Lady Barber who sang, lulling her customers to sleep so she could rob them. She came to a sad end; the barbershop floor gave way and she fell to her death. Ghost chasers say they sometimes hear strains of her sad lullabies, floating up from the Market's lower levels.

No surprise that the Market has such a spirited past, the grand institution having marked its 110th birthday in August. At a time when many of Seattle's iconic businesses have closed, it's a comfort to realize that the Market is still with us, still the same wonderful combo of quality, quantity and occasional kitsch. Today it's even better, having expanded to the West, one day soon to connect to the waterfront.