The Lititz Antiques Show's 50th Anniversary

Lita Solis-Cohen | September 27th, 2012

Penny Thomas of Bear, Delaware, said she is known as the queen of smalls. "I don't go to auctions, but I find great things at shows and markets," she said. She offered a collection of rolling pins; the Shaker crimper, $65, was used to cut cookies; another crimper from Pennsylvania on the stand was $50 and used to cut noodles. The stand was not for sale. The other rolling pins were $30 each.

Nancy and Paul Hahn of Savage, Maryland, offered a collection of ice cream scoops. "I sold all my ice cream sandwich scoops at the meeting of the Ice Screamers and at the Waynesboro show," said Paul Hahn. "They are hard to find." He still had refinished Gilcrest scoops for $115. The scoops vary in size and are numbered by the number of scoops in a quart-12, 16, and 20. A cone-shaped scoop for a banana split was $395.

Ayscough Antiques, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, wanted $875 for this cherrywood cutlery box with a maple rolling pin handle.

Lititz, Pennsylvania

by Lita Solis-Cohen

At the first Lititz show in June 1962, admission was 75¢, or 50¢ with a discount. The 19 dealers exhibiting paid $20 and $25 for space in the show, which ran three days in conjunction with the popular July 4th celebration at Lititz Springs Park. Mildred McElroy, a member of the board of the Lititz Historical Foundation, had suggested an antiques show to raise funds for the upkeep of the historic Johannes Mueller House on Main Street in Lititz, Pennsylvania. For 50 years the Lititz Antiques Show and bake sale has kept the historic 1792 Johannes Mueller House in good repair.

The show has changed with the times. Bob and Jean Cook, who managed the show for a number of years, decided it would be advantageous to hold the show at the same time as the Extravaganza in nearby Adamstown. For as long as anyone can remember the Lititz show has tailgated the June Extravaganza.

The Lititz Antiques Show, held this year on June 29 and 30, has grown to 40 dealers from six states. Fifteen years ago it moved to the air-conditioned John R. Bonfield Elementary School in Lititz. Admission has increased to $6, or $5 with a discount coupon from any advertisement. Ken Martin, who headed the show committee this year, said it is the only antiques show that remains in Lancaster County.

Martin, a member of the historical foundation board, got local businesses and some patrons to sponsor the show and used the funds for advertising the 50th anniversary show. "Nearly twice as many people came through the door as last year," he said. "And we had dealers ask if they could show here next year. We look forward to the future."

Dealers said business was good. On Friday collectors came and stayed for hours, and they left with packages. Some collectors drove two and a half hours from New Jersey; others came from New York; most were Pennsylvanians. The Friday crowd came to Lititz for the antiques show, and most were not staying on for the Extravaganza on Saturday. The Saturday shoppers included many who had attended the Extravaganza.

What they found in air-cooled comfort was a broad range of country gear and collectibles. There were collections of ice cream scoops, celluloid toys, gardening tools, rolling pins, transfer-printed historical china, baskets, clothespins, Staffordshire figures, tape measures, and holiday decorations. Where else could you buy a box of 87 slate pencils wrapped in paper American flags, or a cigar with a trigger that released a fan in the shape of an American flag, or an opium box from a 19th-century pharmacy that once held vials of the drug, or a 29-star American flag, or a duster that blows the dust away?

There were quilts and pantry boxes, bowls and children's clothes, including rare boys' clothes, tinware and woodenware, hooked rugs and needlework. Dealers talked about how hard it is to find good things, and shoppers talked about how nice it was to find a show full of a broad variety of things at affordable prices.

The antiques show is keeping a tradition alive just as the bake sale keeps alive the old Moravian recipes brought to Lititz by the first settlers in the 1740's and made in kitchens there ever since.

Moreover, Lititz is a destination worth visiting. Linden Hall, the oldest girls boarding school in America, established in 1746, is on Main Street. Across the street is the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, the first pretzel factory in America, and the Wilbur Chocolate factory, in business more than 125 years, is at the end of the street. The Johannes Mueller House on Main Street and the Lititz Historical Foundation Museum in the Christian Schropp House next door preserve the history of the area.

For more information, go to (www.lititzhistoricalfoundation.com).

Mary Ann and Chuck Ullman of West Chester, Pennsylvania, asked $475 for the Erzgebirge German farm with lots of animals and a fence.

Linda Grier of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, asked $425 for this luxurious tin bird house with a balcony, a water holder, and several rooms. It was found in upstate New York.

Lyn Kay of Abbottstown, Pennsylvania, offered rag dolls. Clockwise from the top they were $225, $225, $285, and $325. The child's high shoes were $95.