In Lititz, A Really Big Show

Staff Writer [email protected]

Less than a year ago, Mindy Donecker Beatty opened MinD's Boutique, a gift-and-accessories shop at 4 Sturgis Lane in Lititz.

So Saturday was her first experience being open for business while the Lititz Craft Show, a daylong extravaganza, took place just outside her door.

"And my expectations have been just what's happening," the Lititz resident said at midday, a big smile on her face.

"It's been perfect," with plenty of business and plenty of people stopping by, she said.

Lititz, named "America's Coolest Small Town" in a 2013 magazine survey, was indeed the hot place to be Saturday.

The 35th annual craft show drew possibly a record number of visitors, well over 40,000 and maybe 50,000.

On East Main Street, at the Tiger's Eye women's clothing store, business and community leader Gaylord Poling also was feeling a boost from the show.

"It's good for the town. All of the restaurants can't help but do well on craft-show day," said Poling, co-owner of the shop with wife Nadine Buch.

"The gift shops do extremely well. And for shops like ours, it means a lot of exposure. It's not money in our pocket today, but it's exposure. And that's good."

But the show also can mean good business, his wife pointed out, as they just sold a customer a dress for an upcoming wedding.

"We've had people from Allentown (who) came for the craft show and sort of fell in our lap," she said.

The Rotary Club craft show was launched in 1978 with only local vendors setting up on a single block along East Main.

Now it's one of the top shows on the East Coast, drawing several hundred crafters from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

And clearly this year, it was not just the 525 craft vendors, with a total of 750 stands, who were doing a good business on Saturday.

Lititz also sees many thousands of extra dollars in its shops and restaurants. And forget about trying to get a room in a nearby hotel or bed-and-breakfast, Poling said.

Elsewhere, restaurants set up shop on the sidewalk in front of their establishments, selling everything from hot dogs and coffee to sodas and bottles of water.

"It brings a lot of people into town and shows them what the town's all about," said Tom Oehme, show chairman, looking at the throngs of people at lunchtime from his perch at the center of the show, at Broad and Main streets.

At Cherry Acres furniture store on East Main, Manager Kim Kampen and employee Rae Ann Enck were ready with a list of restaurants and a map for visitors looking for a place to eat in Lititz.

"If they need ideas of where to go, we're ready," Kampen said.

The store has been open for the craft show for all of its nine years, owner Craig Wolf said, adding that the combination of sales and increased exposure makes it well worth being open.

"To have this many people come to any one place for one day is amazing," Poling said about the show, always held the second Saturday in August.

"If you walk through Lititz today, we have no open storefronts, and everything is full."

A walker along Main and Front streets and into Lititz Springs Park found only one business, a laundromat, that wasn't open Saturday.

Working long hours for the craft show are local emergency personnel, who have had to contend with heat exposure and other summer-related problems over the years. (There were no serious problems Saturday, officials said afterward.)

Police, firefighters and emergency medical crews were evident, with more than half of Lititz Borough's 12-member police force on duty.

Police Sgt. Kerry Nye starts planning the coverage for the next craft show right after the event ends each year.

"There's a lot, a lot, of planning that goes on," Nye said. "You just can't have 40,000-plus people in town and expect to throw it together in a minute and a half."

Nye will sit down with local fire company and EMS officials, meet with Rotary leaders and start getting ready, he said late last week.

The Lititz Fire Company will make an incident action plan, "so if something happens, we have a plan to go by," Nye said.

Police in Lititz in recent weeks were busy hand-delivering no- parking signs along Front and Main streets, bagging meters and having cars towed, if necessary.

Detours sending vehicles off busy Front Street (Route 501) and East Main also were set up before the show started at 8 a.m. Saturday.

"It's not just the police department ... I can't say enough about the fire and EMS guys, too," Nye said.

Three first-aid stations were at the ready Saturday - in the Lititz square, in the park and at Main and Water streets.

Usually EMS crews treat a few dozen people for everything from bee stings and overturned ankles to passing out from the heat. (Saturday's weather was sunny, with a high only into the low 80s.)

The biggest problem the sergeant recalls was a thunderstorm that rolled through one year about 3 p.m.

One resident, Fern Miller of 503 E. Main St., was among the few who wasn't planning to attend the show.

She has gone to many past craft shows, but for this year realized that "it's too much of a hassle to try and go anywhere, so I decided not to do anything and just enjoy the day on my front porch," she said, smiling.

A 15-year Lititz resident, she was enjoying the nice day by watching people go by and reading the legal thriller "Life Support," by Robert Whitlow.

Caption: -People-Watching At The Lititz Craft Show Saturday: Above, 3-Year-Old Genevieve Byler, Of Myerstown, Takes A Nap In Her Stroller Along North Broad Street; Below, Ken Bullough Of Clarksburg, Md., Walks Through Lititz Springs Park With His Yorkies.; Staff Photos Lines Were Everywhere During The Lititz Craft Show, From The Tomato Pie Cafe On Broad Street, Top, To The Portable Potties In Lititz Springs Park.; Staff Photos Above: North Broad Street In Lititz Was Crowded Saturday During The Lititz Craft Show. Top: Aaron Gabryluk And Ryan Dohner Were Helping To Park Vehicles For Troop 154. Gibble Insurance Donated The Lot Space To Help Benefit The Scouts By Raising Funds During The Show.

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