Pennsylvania may lead the country in strange New Year’s Eve drops. Harrisburg lowers a strawberry, Lebanon drops a giant bologna, Dillsburg has a pickle, Mechanicsburg a wrench, and in Hershey, a giant illuminated Kiss rises above the town at midnight. National television has carried the Hershey rise, giving a small company town a burst of attention on the busiest party night of the year.
Lititz, a borough with no shortage of recognizable symbols, does none of this. There is no community countdown downtown, no giant Wilbur Bud, no oversized pretzel lowered from a crane on the square. Our newsroom asked the question in a column after the pandemic: had Lititz dropped the ball on New Year’s Eve?
The case for a countdown
The argument is simple. A New Year’s Eve event can fill restaurants, bars and hotel rooms on a night when many people are looking for somewhere to go. Downtown Lititz already draws visitors for the Fire & Ice Festival, the Chocolate Walk and summer events, and has added lodging such as The Wilbur Lititz hotel on North Broad Street. A countdown could add a winter evening to that calendar.
The town has obvious candidates for a symbol. Lititz is the home of the nation’s first commercial pretzel bakery, Julius Sturgis, founded in 1861. It was the home of Wilbur Chocolate’s factory for more than a century, and the Wilbur Bud remains a local icon. And the Moravian Star, the many-pointed lantern associated with the Moravian Church that founded the town in the 1700s, hangs from porches and shop windows all winter.
The case against
There are practical reasons such events are rare. Countdowns need sponsors, insurance, police and fire coverage, road closures and volunteers willing to work a late night in December cold. A lowered object needs a crane or a lift and a safe place to put a crowd. Organizations like Venture Lititz already carry a full slate of events, and adding one means finding money and people.
There is also a cultural argument. Lititz’s identity leans toward family events and quieter traditions, and New Year’s Eve has long been marked here in a different way.
Watchnight on the square
The Lititz Moravian Congregation, whose church anchors the square in the 200 block of East Main Street, raises a large Moravian Star before Advent. It stays in place through the holiday season, including the congregation’s annual Watchnight service on New Year’s Eve. Watchnight services are a long tradition in Moravian churches, a time to look back on the year and greet the new one in worship and music, often including the church’s trombone choir.
For families, the star over the square is the closest thing Lititz has to a New Year’s symbol, and it has been part of downtown far longer than any televised drop.
Ringing in the year locally
If you want to stay close to home on Dec. 31:
- Several downtown restaurants offer New Year’s Eve dinners. Book early, since tables fill quickly.
- Watchnight and year-end services are held at a number of Lititz churches; check congregation websites for times.
- Hershey’s celebration is under an hour’s drive west, and Lancaster city often hosts its own events.
- Plan a ride home. Rideshare availability can be thin late at night in northern Lancaster County.
Whatever you choose, the quiet of a Lititz street after midnight, with stars still glowing in porch windows, is its own kind of celebration.
Should Lititz start its own countdown? Tell us what you think the town should drop, or raise, through our Contact page.