The Firecracker Classic, a boys baseball tournament, will take place at Friendship Park Saturday and Sunday.
There will be between 50 and 70 teams with players aged 9-14 participating, said Parks and Recreation Director Heath Stevens. Teams will be coming from Florida, Texas and every state in between.
This is the largest tournament hosted by the city of Picayune. Stevens is expecting about 3,500 people total, and about half of them will stay in town overnight. The teams will start arriving Friday night, and the tournament will take place all day Saturday and Sunday.
There are a total of 16 fields at Friendship Park, but Stevens said only half will be used for this weekend’s tournament.
During his time as the director of parks and recreation, Stevens and his staff have completed a lot of maintenance on the fields.
“Most of the fields are interchangeable now so it only takes about a week to prep them,” said Stevens.
According to Stevens, when these big tournaments come to town everyone benefits.
“The biggest thing is the economic effect of it, it helps the whole city out,” said Stevens.
Stevens also wants to make sure local restaurants and businesses are prepared with extra staffing and supplies for this weekend’s tournament.