07/13/2026
A little over a week ago, our crews supported the Lititz Fourth of July celebration at Lititz Springs Park as America marked its 250th anniversary. It was an exceptionally hot and unpredictable day. We're grateful for the team's preparation, flexibility, and hard work, and proud to remain part of a tradition that means so much to the community where our story began.
This milestone provided an opportunity to look back fifty years, to 1976, when the nation celebrated its bicentennial, and Clair Brothers Audio helped bring another ambitious local commemoration to life.
Spearheaded by the Lititz Area Bicentennial Corporation, If These Walls Could Speak transformed Lititz's historic Moravian Church Square into a living theater with no actors, stage, or visible performers. Instead, two centuries of local history were told through voices, light, and the buildings themselves.
Roy Clair directed the technical elements, with Gene Clair and the team producing the soundtrack on eight-track tape. Eight speaker systems were installed throughout the square, with cables buried underground and strung overhead to create immersive spatial effects well ahead of their time. Wagon sounds moved through the streets, conversations drifted between buildings, and the audience experienced history as if they were standing inside it.
The lighting was equally ambitious. Over thirty custom-built fixtures illuminated the square in sync with the soundtrack, creating effects so convincing that during one thunderstorm sequence, audience members opened their umbrellas, believing the rain had begun.
50 years separate these photos, but they tell the same story. A dedicated team solving problems, supporting one another, and working together to create moments that bring a community together.
📷 (2-5 courtesy of Clair Global Archives)
1: This year's crew
2: Roy and Gene Clair with the eight-track machine used to record the soundtrack
3: Narrator Scott Garman filming the narration in Roy Clair's basement
4: Original eight-track reel-to-reel tape containing the event's soundtrack
5: Original 8mm films provided source footage for the final narration, which was then projected during the show
