For 50 weeks of the year, the Mountaineer Lounge, located at 420 E Mountain Ave. less than one half-mile from the Little League World Series complex in South Williamsport, is just like any other neighborhood bar and grill. It has a steady stream of locals that consider the establishment to be their favorite place to get a bite to eat and have a cold one.

“We’re a mom-and-pop local place, so, a lot of the faces that we see are regulars. That’s what makes our business, really,” Jessica Clark, co-owner of the Mountaineer Lounge, said.

But, for the other two weeks of the year, during the Little League World Series set to get underway today, the Mountaineer Lounge serves as an international meeting place of sorts. On any given day just before or during the annual event, one may see a half-dozen different nationalities represented at the lounge, giving a neighborhood bar a truly cosmopolitan feel.

“For this short couple of weeks, this time of year, we are literally like an international hub, where you can look down the bar and see people from five different countries all sitting within five seats. It’s really, really exciting. Of course, sometimes there are some language barriers or whatever, but we all get through them,” Jessica Clark said.

The Lounge, which opened up in 1996, is a family-owned business, as Clark co-owns the bar with her husband, Scott, and mother-in-law, Gloria Drum. Their Friday fish frys routinely sell out, and people love their soups year-round. Their chicken wings, which go through a seasoning ritual before being fried in small batches to order, with sauce coming from Alliger’s House of Wings in Sayre, PA, are considered by many to be among the best in the county. But, what the establishment is really selling is a place of community, a place where, like in the famed sitcom Cheers, everybody knows your name.

Though the faces that walk through the doors every year for the Little League World Series, from New England to South Carolina, Connecticut to Hawaii, and Japan to Aruba, start their time in Williamsport as strangers to those that work at the lounge, their warm service, good food, and great prices keep them coming back throughout their stay. By the end of their time in the area, they too, become familiar faces. One overseas Little League executive has been coming to the Mountaineer Lounge for nearly 30 years.

“There’s a lot of faces that we get to see, recurring faces, ESPN guys and the (team hosts)–and some people return every year for the event. But. there’s all the new faces, all the new coaches, and the new teams”

Stop in on a random night during the World Series, and you’re sure to see a a few coaches and team hosts unwinding with a bite to eat after a long day. The Mountaineer Lounge has long been referred to by a code word that is passed down from hosts to coaches as kind of a rite of passage each year.

“It’s a fantastic local watering hole. It’s exactly what you want to get away from (the Little League Complex) experience, but you still get the full Williamsport experience right here,” one coach of a 2025 participating team said.

The Mountaineer Lounge is particularly busy, they say, during certain times of the Little League World Series. On especially hot days, they find that many people prefer to sit in the air conditioning and watch the games on the televisions at the Mountaineer Lounge. That goes for the Grand Slam Parade, with locals choosing to skip the crowds in downtown Williamsport and watch the live stream of the parade with a sandwich and a cold beverage. And, if there’s a team from Pennsylvania in the series, crowds increase both at Howard J. Lamade Stadium and at the Mountaineer Lounge.

The Clarks are no strangers to Little League success. Their daughter, Lynna, a rising senior at Jersey Shore and a star of the Bulldog softball team, was a key cog in the South Williamsport Little League Softball team that made the Little League Softball World Series, then held in the Portland, Oregon area, back in 2019. Lynna even personally sat down with former Little League International President Stephen D. Keener to advocate for regional games being played on dedicated softball fields, instead of on baseball field with a softball pitching rubber installed. Today, at the Little League East Regional Headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, there are dedicated softball facilities.

The love that the family has for Little League truly permeates the business during this time of year. While other establishments may get frustrated with those traveling to Williamsport for the Little League World Series driving out their regulars, they love Little League and love that the Mountaineer Lounge is a small part of the experience for thousands of people over the last three decades.

“We are Little League people. We grew up with Little League. There’s no better platform,” Jessica said. “We don’t change our prices (for the Little League World Series). People are already in debt (from traveling all summer). Everywhere else, they’re getting gouged.”

It certainly gets chaotic at the Mountaineer Lounge during the Little League World Series, as they described it as a Friday night for two straight weeks. But, they wouldn’t have it any other way. The relationships built at the restaurant during this time of year last a lifetime, and they keep on social media with plenty of visitors from over the years that they’ve especially bonded with. Coaches who have been here in previous years have been known to call in and take of the bill for the coaches from their region.

Just as it is the other 50 weeks of the year, by the end of the Little League World Series, the Mountaineer Lounge becomes a place where everybody knows your name.