Sports
Pelham Little League Hits the Street
Hundreds of Pelham Little League players, parents and coaches parade through Pelham.
Continuing an over 30-year spring tradition, the Pelham Little League marched down Fifth Avenue to celebrate the beginning of the spring season.
Early Saturday morning members of the Pelham Little League convened across from the Pelham Art Center to kick off the start of their season. Little leaguers, ages four to 15 and both boys and girls alike, showed their pride by marching with their team. The parade was led by a Village of Pelham Fire Department engine followed closely by the Grand Marshals, who this year were the tournament champions from the 11- and 12-year-old divisions.
The parade involved dogs, scooter, parents, coaches, and players alike. Keeping the pace in the middle was the Pelham Memorial High School Marching Band and their pelican mascot.
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New this year to the Pelham Little League is the Four Stars league, a Saturday morning instructional T-ball program for four year-olds.
The route started at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Third Street. Traffic was stopped as it followed Fifth Ave. all the way to Ingalls Field, which is attached to PMHS and PMS.
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The event has been coordinated by James Lauria for the past three years, said John Nesi, president of the Pelham Little League Executive Board.
The parade comes to fruition year after year because of the generosity and hard work of the Pelham community as a whole, he said. However, the Pelham Little League board handles the lion’s share.
“As a board, we all chip in. It’s getting donations from the generous sponsors, we get water donated, we have to get a permit from the town, we got the fire engines out there--we kind of got it down,” Nesi said.
One Pelham parent, Jaime McLellan, remarked just how important community events such as the parade are.
“They’re just fantastic, I think on two fronts: one it brings the community together and gets all the kids rallied around something, and the second thing it’s a big signal that winter’s over and spring is coming,” McLellan said.
The parade concluded at Ingalls Field with a short ceremony that was followed by refreshments. Afterwards, teams broke up for team pictures and some took to the field for their first practice.
