Nothing says summer like the smell of freshly-mown grass and the jubilant sounds of children playing. Sunday afternoon the smells and sounds came together as the kids of summer started the Little League baseball season with a parade down Mineral Avenue and games running into the evening.

Organizer Jen McElmurry said there are roughly 250 kids playing Little League baseball in Libby this year, spread amongst 24 teams.

The festivities started around noon on Sunday, as the teams gathered at the old school administration building on Lincoln Boulevard. Coaches and parents ran back and forth herding the youngsters into position and by 12:30 all was ready, the teams started their parade.

Mineral Avenue, normally all but devoid of traffic on Sunday afternoons, was packed on both sides with bystanders watching the kids march by in their uniforms, waving and throwing candy into the crowd.

The kids walked down Mineral to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Club, where they were loaded into trucks and hauled up to Remp Field for the opening pitches. 

“I don’t know how many games we had,” said Joe McElmurry, “but we were going until about 8 p.m. It was a beautiful day for softball and baseball.”