The Jamestown Babe Ruth World Series Board of Directors announced that the Babe Ruth League selected Jamestown to host the 13-15 Year Old Tournament.

The tournament is scheduled for August 12 through August 19.

The parade starts at 6pm and will feature all 10 teams represented in the World Series as well as floats from local organizations. The parade route is on Third Street from the Bridge past City Hall.

The first official day of the tournament is tomorrow with all games being played at Diethrick Park in Jamestown. Opening ceremonies for the World Series will take place before the 7:00 p.m. game. Games take place August 14th through 21st.

All Babe Ruth World Series games are free to the public thanks to local support by businesses and organizations.

In addition, the Jamestown Community will be presented with their induction into the Babe Ruth League Hall of Fame before the championship game at 1pm on Saturday, August 21st. All former board members, committee members, community support groups, businesses and volunteers are invited to celebrate this achievement.

More information about the world series, including game times, can be found at jamestownworldseries.org.

The City of Jamestown was first selected to host the Babe Ruth 13-year old World series in 1980, and has hosted 15 additional World Series since that year. The Babe Ruth 13-Year-Old World Series is returning to Jamestown this August. Jamestown’s official induction into the Babe Ruth League International Hall of Fame will be held during this event.

The Board of Directors in a release said Jamestown has become the blueprint for other host cities to follow. The innovations initiated by Jamestown included: providing meals for the teams upon their arrival during orientations; holding an ice-breaker picnic prior to the start of the World Series; and conducting a home-run derby.

Jamestown joins more than 200 individuals and organizations who have earned the distinction of being inducted into the Babe Ruth League International Hall of Fame.

This will be the 18th World Series that has been held in Jamestown since 1980.

Organizers of the fair said the decision came after careful consideration and once it became clear that cancellation was the prudent choice to help improve community health and safety and reduce the cycle of infection.

They also said that if the COVID-19 situation improves to the point where it is once again safe to hold mass gatherings, the Fair will return in July 2021.

Another causality of COVID-19 is the 2020 Babe Ruth World Series, including the 13-year old series that was scheduled to take place in August at Diethrick Park in Jamestown.  Organizers say that due to the novel coronavirus, all Babe Ruth World Series events have been cancelled nationwide.  However, it was also announced that Jamestown will have the opportunity to move this year’s 13-year-old World Series to 2021.

The Lakewood Village Board has also voted to cancel this year’s Fourth of July celebration due to coronavirus concerns.

The 8-day long tournament, which features 25 games at Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park in Jamestown, NY will feature players ages 16 to 18 and will run from Saturday, Aug. 4 to Saturday Aug. 11.

Ten teams from across the country will be on hand, from areas as far away as Bakersfield, California; Columbia Basin in Washington State; and Mobile, Alabama,

In addition there will also be the “Southern Tier” host team comprised of All Star players from both Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties.

This year marks the seventeenth time Jamestown has been selected to Host a World Series tournament since 1980.

Teams will arrive on Friday, Aug. 3 beginning at approximately 1 p.m. with an “Ice Breaker” picnic along with the Skills Competition and Home Run Derby at Diethrick Park, starting at 5 p.m.  The skills completion and home run derby are all free to the public and all are encouraged to attend.

Saturday, Aug. 4 begins the first official day of the tournament, which will kickoff with the World Series of Champions Parade.  The Parade will travel across 3rd Street from the 3rd Street Plaza to JHS High School with a 9 a.m. step off.

Following the parade, the 25 games of baseball that are being played at Diethrick Park will begin.  The first game between the Ohio Valley Champions – the Northwest Indiana Rippers from Crown Point, Indiana) and the Mid Atlantic Champions (West Penn from Williamsport, Pennsylvania) will begin at noon.

ALL 25 games of the World Series are free to the general public thanks to various businesses and foundations that have sponsored each day of baseball.

World Series spokesperson Kim Ecklund tells WRFA they are still looking for a few local singers to sing the National Anthem before some of the games and volunteers are a also being sought, along with at least one more host family.

For more information on the world series, visit JamestownWorldSeries.org.

The city of Jamestown, which owns the park, has been hit with $110,000 in unexpected costs related to the project due to the costly removal of lead paint that was recently discovered.

“Getting into the project, they noticed some lead-based paint that is on the ceiling of the grandstand, as well as some of the steel support beams,” Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi told WRFA Monday night. “The job was immediately shut down, we brought in an environmental consultant to evaluate the situation and put together a remediation plan and tonight the Jamestown City Council approved the change order on the project to deal with the encapsulization and remediation of the lead paint in the facilities.”

In February the city council initially approved a contract with Long Island Enterprise for $25,300  to paint the underside of the grandstand, railings and metal columns, but with the unanticipated costs, the price is now $135,000.

The city had a $50,000 fund to use toward upgrades to the ball park, but with the additional $111,700 change order that was approved Monday night, all that fund had to be depleted and, in addition, the city council had to use another $87,000 from the city’s contingency fund to pay for the remainder of the remediation cost.

“That’s why we have a contingency fund,” Teresi noted. “It’s sufficient to cover a project like this. We will be looking for other sources of funding to help defray that cost and hopefully not have to hit the contingency line of the budget for the full $87,000. But that’s the reason why there is a contingency budget and, furthermore, the need for a healthy undesignated fund balance because things of an unanticipated nature come up during the course of a year.”

Teresi added that the painting project is still on schedule and should be completed by the time the baseball season begins on June 1, when the Jamestown Jammers collegiate baseball team holds its home opener. The Babe Ruth World Series will also be played at Diethrick Park later this summer in August, with teams from across the United States expected to be on hand.

This will be the 17th time the Jamestown World Series Committee has hosted a World Series since 1980.  This year’s tournament will involve players aged 16 to 18 who will be competing for the title of World Series Champion.

Host families are needed to host the players from the time they arrive in Jamestown on August 2 until their departure which would be August 12

Organizers are looking for anyone who has the availability to be a host family for the week and experience the World Series from a new perspective.  Complete details and application are available at JamestownWorldSeries.org.

• VIEW CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 2017 AGENDA

Among the items to be voted on is a new fee schedule for use of city parks, where fees for using fields at the city’s parks for baseball, football, and other activities will increase anywhere between $10 and $25 per event, for most activities listed on the fee schedule. The only exception is for the Babe Ruth Tournaments and Babe Ruth World Series, with officials still trying to work out details for how those fees will be paid. The last time the city parks fees were increased was in 2013.

In other business, the city Council is scheduled to vote on the abandonment of an alley between Lindsey and Woodlawn avenues on the east side of town. The abandonment also came up for a vote last month but was tabled to allow city officials an opportunity to ensure the abandonment won’t limit access to the nearby Woodlawn apartments. The tabling of the resolution came after a resident spoke to the council in January, voicing his concern over the abandonment.

The city council will also vote on a proposed changes to solid waste collection and recycling.

Monday’s voting session begins at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall. It is open to the public.