While the charming town of Lititz gained national attention when it was named “the coolest small town in the USA” in 2013 by budgetravel.com, that moniker is minor when compared to the community’s collective, generous heart, especially when it comes to hosting the biggest party of the year on the Fourth of July. 

As though one needs another reason to visit Lititz, with its sweetly quirky shops, dining and entertainment spots, Lititz Springs Park is an unexpected green space in the heart of downtown that offers a scenic stroll or a peaceful pause on a shady park bench. For over two centuries, the park has been owned by the Lititz Moravian Congregation and is now cooperatively maintained by 10 Lititz-area churches. The responsibility extends to the park’s Train Station Welcome Center, band shell, gazebo and additional structures, as well as the town’s picturesque Memorial Square. Maintaining and sustaining the park and its elements would be a tall order for any community, especially considering that the park’s financial needs are not provided by public funds. Instead, it comes from donations, largely by the community’s citizens. 

But in Lititz, it works. And no one knows that better than Kellye Martin, an at-large member of the Lititz Springs Park board, now in her ninth year as chair of the park’s biggest fundraiser of the year and a beloved 209-year Lititz tradition – the Fourth of July Celebration. 

Throwing an all-day party for 13,000 visitors to the park, Kellye says, absolutely takes a village. About 200 volunteers, many of whom are loyal repeats, don staff T-shirts, swelter in July heat and have a blast working as a team to pull off an amazingly well-organized day culminating in a spectacular display of fireworks, lasers, drones and concert-quality music. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Kellye promises that Lititz’s celebration will be bigger and better than ever.

Like Clockwork

The day begins as early as 3:30 a.m. for some, when locals laden with blankets and lawn chairs line up to converge on the park for what is known as the Blanket Run. This community tradition allows guests (starting at 7 a.m.) to claim their coveted spots for fireworks viewing later that day. “The field is filled with blankets within the first hour,” says Kellye, noting that pockets of space remain for later arrivals. 

From 11 a.m. to noon, the town’s streets are filled with floats, marching bands and military processions as the Lititz Lions Club hosts its annual patriotic parade. Beginning at noon, the park offers continuous live entertainment and activities to keep kids busy and adults chilling with a Stars and Stripes Ballet by local dance students, musical acts, a pie-eating contest (whoopie pies for the kid’s division), cornhole tournament and a baby parade, plus over 20 food trucks offering festival fare. This year, a 13-piece band will take over from 6:30 to 8 p.m., as American Soul rocks out three decades of soulful American hits.

As evening sets in, the Queen of the Candles Pageant gets underway. This year marks the pageant’s 85th anniversary. Tradition is very much a part of the pageant as Warwick High School’s senior class nominated and later cast ballots for 12 senior girls to take part. Once the queen is announced, another tradition ensues, as Boy Scouts and townspeople take on the job of illuminating the 4,500 candles that create what has come to be called a “Fairyland of Candles.” 

If the Americana-esque charm of the afternoon’s events rings too old-timey for your tastes, just wait until dusk. That’s when cutting-edge technology takes over in a coordinated show of fireworks, lasers and 100+ choreographed drones performing to a pre-recorded soundtrack to rock the Fourth. Lititz can thank its lucky stars for the local live entertainment companies headquartered just up the town’s main drag at Rock Lititz for stepping up, year after year. A world-class sound system is provided by the homegrown Clair Global family, while professional lighting and all-day light direction is donated by 4Wall Entertainment, and staging, video walls and directional, crowd-managing fencing is overseen by Lititz native Chris Strayer’s STRAY Production Services. This list of supporting local businesses goes on and on.

For Warwick graduate Chris Strayer, who started his production, staging and lighting company in his dad’s garage with a few lights 26 years ago, the Clair family has been an inspiration. “The Clairs’ involvement in the community encouraged me to be generous,” he says. “It’s contagious.”

“Everyone who works on this event becomes family,” says Kellye, who is often the last person to leave the park in the early hours of July 5th. “I love the silence, seeing the large Moravian star and all the red, white and blue. It’s a ton of work,” she says, “but what a payoff.”

The $20 admission ($8 for kids) represents Lititz Springs Park’s lifeline. Funds raised on this day not only help ensure that the USA’s second-oldest consecutive celebration of Independence Day continues, but it is also the park’s most significant source of funding for maintaining and improving the park year-round. 

Pre-admission tickets ($16 for adults $6 for kids over 2) can be purchased until July 3 at the Train Station Welcome Center, Stauffers’ Lititz location and Bomberger’s, as well as online. Day of tickets are $20 for adults and $8 for kids. Rain date is July 5. For more information, visit Lititz4thofJuly.com.