Orangeburg prepares for 2024 Diamond Youth Baseball World Series

ORANGEBURG, S.C. (WIS) – Orangeburg City officials are now in the final stretch of preparations for The Diamond Youth Baseball World Series.

City Leaders said this event will bring thousands of tourists to the Garden City. That means a huge economic impact to businesses and hotels with players and their families visiting Orangeburg.

The Diamond Youth World Series will feature 7 and 8-year-old All-Star teams from 11 Southeast states along with a host team from Orangeburg.

Officials said they are beyond excited to host an event like the Diamond Youth Baseball World Series which has been in the works for two years.

Latonya Edwards serves as the general manager for the Comfort Inn and Suites. He said rooms are sold out.

“The hotel block has been full, so pretty much everything that we’ve blocked for them throughout the duration of those five days have been picked up,” said Edwards.”We will be accommodating them with snacks throughout the duration of their stay so they will have bottled water and Lays chips. We’ve changed our breakfast menu up a little to include more protein. Normally we do turkey sausage and pork sausage and we’ll be including chicken on the breakfast menu.”

The tournament begins on Thursday, July 25 at the Orangeburg Recreational Park off North Road.

The event will have concessions and a kid’s zone for families to enjoy. Live entertainment will also be provided on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Michael Bartley, Whipped Sweets and Treats Co-Owner is looking to capitalize on the heavier-than-normal foot traffic. The local business has been open for a year.

“We have a lot of people coming to the city and there will be more money for the hotels and I’m pretty sure it’ll be more money for us because the little league games and stuff like that, our target audience is the kids. We want to make sure that we have everything here such as cotton candy, candy apples, whatever the case may be,” said Bartley.

City of Orangeburg Official Jennifer Van Cleave said the economic impact will be significant.

“We’re expecting to have 20 to 30,000 visitors coming through Orangeburg through that five to seven-day period. So we’ve already had a meeting with our local businesses and our hotels and restaurants because we want them to be prepared for the influx of folks that will be in town that weekend. We just want everyone to feel welcome and to have a good time while they’re here,” said Van Cleave.

The opening ceremony will be held at 7:30 p.m. at South Carolina State University’s Oliver C Dawsons Stadium.

The first game of the World Series is expected to start on Friday at 9 a.m. at the  Orangeburg Recreation Park.

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