Lititz Springs Park Stepped Back From Big Events. Downtown Lititz Became the Venue.

On Saturday, October 3, the Lititz Outdoor Fine Art Show will set up its booths on Moravian Church Square at 8 Church Square, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Lititz Art Association has run the show for more than 50 years. Until this year it was held in the park in late July, and this year more than 130 local and out-of-state artists are expected on the square.

The art show isn't moving on its own. In August 2025 the Lititz Springs Park Board of Trustees announced that no large events would be held in the park starting in 2026. The board said the pause would make room for a full grounds restoration. That gives 2026 a new layout. The festivals have spread out to the downtown streets, Church Square and Rock Lititz. Meanwhile the park is depending more on the one big event it still keeps.

The Question the Park Board Asked Out Loud

The park hosts nearly two dozen community events a year. The board said maintenance costs had risen sharply and that heavy use had left parts of the grounds unsafe. Rich Motz, the park board president, told ABC27 the debate had gone on at board meetings for years. "Basically, it boiled down to, is the park a park or is it an event venue? Because right now it's not thriving trying to be both."

The announcement listed the events that would need new homes: the Warwick Marching Band Food Truck Festival, LEFC Church in the Park, the Lancaster County Chooses Love Pride Festival, the Lititz Art Association Fine Art Show and the L'Italia Festival. Organizers got two years' notice to find other sites. The board set no date for large events to come back.

Where Each Event Landed

Three of the displaced events have public 2026 plans. Here is where they went.

WGAL reported that the Pride festival held its June event at the new Rock Lititz location, and organizers said the festival's message had not changed. We found no announced 2026 venue for the Food Truck Festival or Church in the Park, so we won't guess where they went.

How East Main Street Got a Festival

L'Italia had the biggest move to make. At the March 31, 2026 Lititz Borough Council meeting, organizer Tim Austin Liddell said the 2025 festival, its fourth year, drew an estimated 15,000 people. He told council the park's new event policy meant the festival needed a new site and asked to hold it on East Main and Water streets near the Moravian Church.

The minutes show why this stretch was chosen. Police Chief Hahn said it would likely affect downtown less than events that close the first blocks of North Broad, South Broad or East Main, and that the department fully supported the move. Austin said alcohol sales would stay inside a fenced area off Water Street. He hoped the festival would bring crowds to downtown businesses without closing the first block of East Main. Council voted unanimously to approve East Main between Cedar and Cherry, plus Water Street from East Main to the former railroad crossing.

So the fifth L'Italia, organized by community members with the Keystone Events Project, was scheduled for September 19 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a block of East Main that usually carries regular traffic. That block runs east of the square, and the art show will fill the square two Saturdays later.

The Art Association Moved Indoors, Too

The art show's new season is one part of a bigger change for the Lititz Art Association. This year the group opened Gallery 51 at 51 N. Broad St., its first physical home. LNP reported the gallery had been partly open since late June, with a grand-opening weekend on September 10 through 12. In past years the association's biggest public day happened on the park lawn in July. In 2026 it has a storefront on Broad Street and a fall show a short walk away on Church Square.

The pattern goes past the art association. Several downtown openings this year give people reasons to come to Main Street on days without a festival:

• Lititz Cheese Shop, 49 E. Main St. Amy and Matt Tamulis moved Savory Gourmet into a 2,500-square-foot storefront and renamed it. The shop sells specialty cheeses, charcuterie, pastries and gifts. Their former At My Table space at 55 E. Main St. is set to host tastings, workshops and community events.
• Lititz Outsider, 22 E. Main St., Rear. The shop moved Lititz Bike Works downtown from Rock Lititz and added hiking, camping and climbing gear to bike sales and repair. It also runs free monthly hikes for all experience levels on the third Saturday, on a different local trail each month. The September 19 hike met at the shop from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., the same morning L'Italia was set up a few blocks east.

Lititz Outsider moved from Rock Lititz to downtown, while the Pride festival went the other way. Rock Lititz is now a second event pole, and another venue there is in the works. Cartel Brewing & Blending plans to replace Fetish Brewing at 201 Rock Lititz Blvd., Suite 22, with a taproom of about 60 seats called Extended Play. As of LNP's September 15 report, the transfer was still waiting on state liquor board approval, which the owner hoped to get in early October.

What the Park Kept, and What It Costs to Keep It

The park didn't go quiet. Smaller gatherings were exempt from the pause, including Kiwanis Kid's Day, Community Vespers, the Lititz Farmers Market and Christmas in the Park. The Fourth of July celebration also stays, for two reasons. It is the park's only fundraiser, and it is written into the operating agreement between the park board and the Lititz Moravian Congregation, which owns the park grounds. That agreement says the board "shall continue the annual Fourth of July celebration in the park."

That leaves the park's budget resting on one night in July, and this year that night fell short. In an August 2026 post that WHP covered on August 23, the park said restoration work is underway. It also said an e-bike rider had torn up a large area of grass during a storm while the ground was soft and wet. Between those repairs and what the park called major financial losses to the July 4th fundraiser from bad weather, it said funds are already stretched thin for the coming year.

The park's 2025 plan for the restoration covers better walking paths, repairs to bridges and stream walls, drainage work in swale areas, and native plantings. The board hasn't published a timeline. The park's rules for daily visits are simple:

1. Bicycles and e-bikes of any kind are allowed only on Park Lane.
2. Bikes are never allowed on footpaths or on the grass.

The Rest of the Calendar, by Location

October and December show the new layout clearly, with each event in a different part of town.

• Saturday, October 3, Moravian Church Square. The Lititz Outdoor Fine Art Show, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, October 10, downtown. The Kiwanis Club of Lititz Area holds its 25th Chocolate Walk. New this year is an indoor Artisan Maker's Market at The Main Event at Rudy's Hall, 27 E. Main St., Suite 2.
• Saturday, October 17, from 22 E. Main St., Rear. Lititz Outsider's third-Saturday hike. The date follows the shop's monthly pattern.
• Friday, December 4, Lititz Springs Park. Christmas in the Park runs 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the bandshell, with Warwick High School music performances, dance, caroling and a Christmas tree lighting. The rain date is December 5.

The Chocolate Walk adding an indoor market on East Main fits the year's pattern. The tree lighting at the bandshell is one of the gatherings the park kept, and it falls in a year when the park has said its funds are stretched thin.

If you live in Lititz and the changes on East Main or around Church Square have you thinking about your own home, the John Smith Team is glad to talk it through. Request a free home valuation, and we'll show you what your house is worth in today's market.