Williamsport, PA, home of Little League. A clean town, with lovely old buildings and big trees that line the streets. Population around 30,000 and only a 3.5 hour drive from the bright lights of New York City.
It is Little League World Series week and there is a buzz in the air. Hotel lobbies have large welcome signs, shop fronts have Little League welcome signs, basically the whole town is a giant moving welcome to Little League sign.
A walk through downtown quickly gets you to W 4th Street, completely blocked off in preparation for the opening night’s Grand Slam Parade. There are camping chairs lining the street to secure position at 3:00pm, cherry pickers and scaffolding set up for the live broadcast.
Image: W 4th Street preparations
Image: Broadcast 'booth' on the footpath
6:00pm and the whole town plus the tens of thousands of family, friends and World Series visitors are out. It is difficult to move through the streets and the only way to get a good view if you didn’t secure your position early is to get creative.
The parade MC warms up the crowd with the YMCA and another jumping, shuffling group dance that obviously hasn't yet made it to Australia, before the first float makes its way down the road to huge applause.
Image: Locals securing any vantage point they can
Acrobats, inflatable minions, giant shopping trolleys built on top of what looks like a drag racing car, are weaved into the parade line up with the teams, all connected to a local business or community service showing their support for Little League.
Image: Free products thanks to the sponsors
The Cronulla Charter from Australia are in the fifth parade division, between the South Williamsport Mountie Marching band and the Muncy Bank and Trust Company. On the back of a semi-trailer float prepared by local volunteers, the young Aussie’s have the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen as they wave and cheer their way down the road.
Image: Does it get any better for a thirteen year old? Cronulla soaking up the atmosphere form their float
The whole crowd has a soft-spot for Australia, but you can hear the teams’ family, wearing Australia jerseys, holding green and gold inflatable kangaroos and Australian flags, louder than anyone else.
DAY 1 OF PLAY RESCHEDULED
Unfortunately due to wet weather and thunder storms, all play on Day 1 of the LLWS had to be cancelled by the International Tournament Committee. All first-round play has been rescheduled to Friday 21 August (local time). Australia Region's first game against Latin America is now scheduled for 1:00pm Friday 21 August local time, 3:00am Saturday 22 August AEST. Check your local guide to see if ESPN 508 are able to reschedule live coverage, or follow live scoring HERE.