Hundreds turned out downtown on Sept. 2 to officially welcome home the Auburn Little League All-Stars with a parade down Main Street.

Auburn, state and Northwest Regional champion, returned from a strong showing at the Little League World Series. Auburn went 3-2 in its first visit there.

After a short journey down Main Street, the all-stars were met at Auburn City Hall’s courtyard and feted by Gov. Christine Gregoire, U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, state Sen. Claudia Kaufmann, the Auburn City Council and Mayor Pete Lewis.

Gregoire, an Auburn-native, praised the team for its sportsmanship at the Little League World Series.

“By their talent and dedication, with the incredible teamwork that they displayed to the rest of the country, we’ve shown America what Auburn is all about,” Gregoire said.

“Whether it’s raising money, or whatever it took, Auburn was there behind these kids every step of the way, and the All-Stars brought home to this community something we will cherish in this community forever,” she continued. “You have made us proud, not only as Auburnites, but as Washingtonians.”

After congratulations from Reichert and Kaufmann, who presented the Auburn Little League with a $10,000 check on behalf of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, the team was awarded the key to the city.

“I don’t think anybody expected this,” All-Star Dillon O’Grady said before being mobbed for autographs by the crowd. “We expected a big crowd, but we didn’t expect it to be this big. We expected to just go through the town, get off the trucks and go home. I didn’t expect all this.”