Fourth of July Celebration in Lititz Springs Park History

FOURTH OF JULY IN LITITZ SPRINGS PARK HISTORY :

The first recorded Independence Day observance in Lititz Springs Park was held Tuesday, July 4, 1811. The first village band, organized in 1810, entertained in the newly-laid-out park along the “Big Spring.” However, the Moravian Board of Overseers (Collegium) disapproved of “making merry” at the Springs and “greatly disturbing the village late into the night,” but, what was worse, was associating themselves with the neighboring military company which paraded in Lititz during the day.

Finally, in 1818, Lititz held its first community-wide observance of Independence Day. Broadly supported by the public, the event included a banquet, homemade fireworks and music. The Moravians, who did not want to show a lack of patriotism, now tacitly encouraged the celebration. This was the start of a unbroken series of annual Fourth of July celebrations in Lititz Springs Park.

This festivity initiated a continuing tradition of annual patriotic demonstrations that, in importance and with regularity, have been scarcely equaled elsewhere. The familiar springhead has silently witnessed 185 continuous celebrations of the Nation's birthday. This distinction has reflected favorable upon the Lititz community and festivities have always been well-attended and have been significantly influenced with patriotic pride and musical enjoyment in celebration of Independence Day.

For the July 4, 1843 celebration, a special attraction, that would give the annual Fourth of July festivities in Lititz Springs Park a recognized uniqueness, was introduced. To raise funds for improvements to the Park, celebration planners decided to light up 400 candles, an extraordinary feature advertised as a “general illumination of the grounds.” Prior to 1843, there had been small illuminations at the Moravian Brother’s House; in 1783 for “joy at the return of peace,” and at the Children’s Festival in the church square. But, the first illumination of the “Spring” on July 4, 1843, was the grandest affair ever to occur in Lititz. The candle lighting custom had been “borrowed” from the most familiar portion of the Christmas Vigil of the Moravians. Thus, a cherished, continuing Independence Day tradition was begun.

CANDLE DISPLAYS OVER THE YEARS

REVOLVING PYRAMIDS
For the Fourth of July of 1889, nineteen lace revolving pyramids (cones) of lighted candles were made at the request of Hayden H. Tshudy and Frank W. Christ which were very ingeniously devised and manufactured by Henry B. Buch and his brother Frank, and each was set in motion by means of a water-wheel placed beneath it. Almost twenty years later Henry B. Buch remodeled and rebuilt the pyramids. Clarence Regennas made an improvement in the paddle or motive power under the wheels, otherwise they remained the same.

MINIATURIZED FERRIS WHEEL
In 1893, Hayden H. Tshudy, a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature and an official of the Lititz Springs Committee on Arrangements, attended the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. At the fair he observed a massive steel wheel standing 268 feet high with thirty-six cars that could hold 2,160 passengers. The wheel was ingeniously designed and created by George W. Gale Ferris, a noted American mechanical engineer.

Upon Representative Tshudy’s return to Lititz, he asked Frank B. Buch to make a miniaturized working model of the Ferris wheel for the 1894 July Fourth celebration. Mr. Buch constructed the wheel in the showroom of the Grosh Carriage Works, located at the corner of South Broad and West Orange Streets. Mr. Buch used this location as it was the largest building in Lititz. He made the wheel as large as possible and still was able to get it out the double doors of the shop.

At the 1894 July Fourth celebration the imitation Ferris wheel, about ten feet in diameter, was propelled by water power at the outlet of the basin at the head-end of the Park. It was illuminated with sixty-four beautiful multi-colored glass cups into which specially made candles were inserted. The wheel was the source of much attraction and praise.

Later years the Ferris wheel was placed near the Park entrance known as “The Falls near Fern Island.” Because celebrating onlookers had gradually removed some glass cups for souvenirs, an insufficient quantity of the “vessels” remained, thus resulting in the discontinued use of the Ferris wheel. (For one year, Christmas tree balls were substituted for the glass cups with candles.) Only twenty-four of the original multi-colored glass cups remain and are on permanent display at the Lititz Moravian Archives and Museum.

Through the efforts of Carl V. Reedy, new glass cups (made in England) were located and purchased for the Park by the Lititz Community Show Association. So, in 1956, during the Lititz Bicentennial year, the Ferris wheel was “restored” to its position of pride and prominence at the grand candle illumination.

However, because of summer droughts which lowered the stream’s water level, July Fourth celebration planners reluctantly abandoned use of the Ferris wheel. The wheel was placed in the care of the Lititz Historical Foundation and was stored in the old Klein Barn where it slowly deteriorated and eventually was discarded.

In 1992, a small portion of the original Buch “innovation” was found in the Klein Barn. Utilizing this remnant for a pattern, Carl W. Martin, a member of the Lititz Springs Park Board of Trustees, constructed a replica of the 1894 Ferris wheel for the 175th Fourth of July community-wide celebration. The new wheel was placed near the head-end basin close to the original site where the first wheel was displayed. Carl W. Martin was assisted in the project by Ronald R. Loercher, who was also a member of the Park Board of Trustees.

The replica of the original Ferris wheel continues to be a part of the Lititz Springs Park Fourth of July celebration.

EIFFEL TOWER
A new feature was added to the grand illumination of July 4, 1903. A miniature Eiffel Tower, built by Clarence E. Regennas, a local machinist, was placed in the basin of the spring. Later, in 1914 the tower, which revolved at the top, was placed midway (between the two bridges) over the creek. Many years ago the tower, because of deterioration, was eliminated from the “Fairyland of Candles.”

CANDLE CARRYING SWANS
The elegant candle carrying wooden swans with metal wings, have gracefully floated in the head-end during Independence Day celebrations since 1921. They were crafted by Molly Kreider, Woody Kreider and Press Kofroth.

Because of time and the elements, the original swans have now been retired. Six new wooden swans were hand crafted by Robert D. Herr of Lititz for the 182nd celebration, and continue to grace the basin at the head-end of the Park.

The swan has become the symbol of the present day Fourth of July celebrations.

STYLIZED CROWN with a LARGE CANDLE
The basin at the head-end of the Lititz Springs Park has taken on many decorative Fourth of July appearances since the first candle illumination in 1843. During the 1976 Bicentennial of our Nation’s Independence, a stylized crown with a large candle was built as the center piece for the celebration. In addition, Hallmark Cards, Inc., generously donated 8,000 candles for the grand illumination. The crown was used only once and that was for the Bicentennial celebration.

It was not until 1991, when Carl Martin, a Lititz Springs Park Board of Trustees member, built a replica of the 1976 crown for the commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Queen of the Candles Pageant. Since 1991 the replica of the crown has graced the head-end of the park as part of the candle illumination display.

CANDLEMAKING
The history of candles being a part of the celebration dates back to a time when young Moravian boys, whose religious beliefs wouldn’t allow them to discharge fireworks, floated some 400 candles down the stream as part of the marking of Independence Day of 1843. The candle service is similar to other Moravian services in which the candle represents “your light so shining before men that they may see your good works and glorify their Father which art in Heaven.”

With the certainty of the Park’s candle illumination, the chandler and his art, became preeminently important to the planners of the Independence Day celebration. Using a special formula of beef kidney tallow (which gives them the yellow glow so easy to the eye), beeswax and other ingredients, the Moravian vestrymen (sacristans) carefully fashioned candles. As the winter’s chill winds swiftly swirled snow over the cold, barren Lititz landscape, the family of Walter B. Light (who was Sacristan of the Moravian Congregation) devotedly molded the tallowed mixture around sturdy wicks, which are cast in old molds used by the Moravian sacristans of early days. The finished product was kept in a cool environment until it was needed for the July 4th celebration.

With the death of Walter B. Light, Harry Regennas assumed the candlemaking responsibility. By the mid-1950’s, the paucity of available tallow- the difficulty of procuring the required 500 pounds- necessarily resulted in the reluctant use of commercially-manufactured, instead of handmade, candles.

For the July 4, 1958 celebration, domestic candles were used for the first time instead of homemade tallow and beeswax candles. As the number of candles have been increased year after year, it was becoming impossible to provide enough candles through this “hand made” process. Harry Regennas was the last committee member to make the home-made candles.

To youngsters in Lititz, the placing and the subsequent lighting of the candles on the wooden frames over the Park’s stream are coveted duties.

Compiled and Written by R. Ronald Reedy, Lititz Springs Park Historian