But many of the heavy-duty pickups and the utility trucks with the Texas and Louisiana license plates are now heading down the road - some as far away as 80 miles - on a two-week hiatus.
They are making room for minivans carrying fans and families of Little Leaguers swarming into the city for the 10-day international tournament.
"That's our heritage," said Jason Fink, vice president of the Williamsport-Lycoming County Chamber of Commerce. "It's great to have a new industry, but we are the home of Little League baseball."
Little League has long been the biggest economic boost for Lycoming County and Williamsport, a city of 30,000 people on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River that in the late 19th century was known as the lumber capital of the world.
The World Series draws 70,000 visitors from around the world and generates $20 million for the local economy. (The city does have another source of income from baseball - it is the home of the Phillies' Rookie League team, the Crosscutters.)
Marcellus Shale, which runs underneath this central Pennsylvania region, has far greater potential than baseball to restoring Williamsport as an industrial hub.
Fink said it was too early to say how much the shale activity has contributed to the area's economy, but it has spurred commercial activity, bringing in restaurants and retailers.
Even with the money flowing in from drilling, it dawned on hotel operators last year that Little League and the gas industry would be on a collision course this summer because of the hotel commitments for baseball.
"We started hinting to guests that Little League was coming a few months ago," said Jennifer Locey, vice president of operations for the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Williamsport, which together have 198 rooms booked almost entirely by ESPN for the duration of the World Series.
