SEATTLE — Artist and Pike Place Market vendor Daniel Fleming says Toronto Blue Jays followers usually present up in droves in Seattle for video games towards the Mariners, and the continued American League Championship Sequence has been no completely different.
He stated the city and market seem insulated from political tensions between Canada and america, which have brought on Canadian visits to the south to plummet.
“The Toronto Blue Jays fandom travels maybe in addition to any fandom I’ve ever encountered,” Fleming stated Thursday. “They arrive to city, spend cash, assist small companies and stuff.”
The market was buzzing with folks taking pictures in entrance of the primary Starbucks that opened there in 1971, whereas others took movies of the well-known fish-tossing ritual that Pike Place is thought for.
Fleming stated this vacationer season appears “fairly regular”, though he has observed a drop within the variety of Korean and Chinese language vacationers, and believes the political penalties may manifest themselves extra sharply subsequent 12 months.
“Pike Place Market, in the case of this sort of factor, is maybe remoted from statistical norms,” he stated. “I might be suspicious of Washington state, I might anticipate Seattle to see loads fewer Canadian vacationers, however utilizing the baseball sport and the T-shirts and whatnot as my barometer, there appeared to be lots of people on the market.”
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Nonetheless, Go to Seattle, the town’s tourism advertising and marketing group, predicts a 26 p.c drop in worldwide guests this 12 months, calling it the largest drop for a significant U.S. metropolis on account of its dependence on Canada.
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The numbers had been analyzed by worldwide consultancy agency Oxford Economics earlier this 12 months.
Tanya Canavan, president of Go to Seattle, stated in an interview Thursday that officers are “delighted to see Blue Jays followers on the town.”
“Historically, we’ve seen numerous our Canadian mates take part within the sport and it’s been an exquisite rivalry,” Canavan stated.
Canavan is from Vancouver and has lived in america for 25 years.
She stated Seattle feels “very very similar to dwelling,” with comparable tradition, local weather and values, however the predicted drop in customer numbers revealed “how there may be some hesitation and there are some robust emotions about Canadians crossing the border into america right now.”
She has household in Canada who’ve given her a deeper understanding of individuals’s emotions about visiting amid tariffs and rhetoric about U.S. President Donald Trump’s 51st state, she stated.
“We hope that over time this relationship will change into stronger and we are going to start to see this restoration to a extra regular sample,” she stated. “Politics isn’t essentially concerning the folks, proper?”
Followers who got here to the town for the video games stated they traveled to Seattle with out worrying about politics.
Kurt and Tracey Bessey, brothers from Saskatoon, flew to Vancouver and took the bus to Seattle as a result of it was cheaper than flying to Toronto to look at a sport.
Kurt Bessey stated he was final right here a decade in the past for a Seahawks sport, and whereas Seattle has modified since his final go to, with many shops closing, the folks have not.
“The folks listed below are superb, they’re very pleasant,” he stated.
Tracey Bessey stated folks have been pleasant and cheerful towards them, like Canadians in shiny sweatshirts, hers with a small Canadian flag embroidered on the sleeve.
However they stated they obtained numerous questions after they crossed the border, which was not typical of their earlier experiences.
“It appeared unusual. I have been throughout the border a number of instances,” Kurt stated.
“We had all our Jays stuff, so why we’re right here,” Tracey added.
They stated rival followers in Sport 3 had been pleasant and the good-natured trash discuss calmed when the Jays got here out forward, successful handily 13-4.
Again in Pike Place, the place Fleming has bought his work for 20 years, he stated he apologizes to Canadians for Trump’s rhetoric geared toward Canada.
Nonetheless, he stated he would not assume Canadians want a lot convincing to go to a metropolis like Seattle, regardless of the present political battle.
“So far as encouraging folks, , don’t consider the hype,” he stated. “I feel if we have a look at numerous issues world wide when there may be battle and discuss to folks basically on the streets… we are going to discover that the folks of a spot are usually not the federal government of that place.”
Go to Seattle says Canadians spent $586 million within the metropolis and King County space final 12 months.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Oct. 16, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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