WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. (WSAW) – People in Wisconsin Rapids are celebrating the Christmas season this weekend with a live nativity scene at Calvary Baptist Church.<\/p>\n
The event, called \u2018Journey Through Bethlehem,\u2019 runs tonight through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The back lot of the church is transformed into scenes from the Christmas story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you bring it to life, people can see that and experience Christmas in a little bit different way,\u201d said Dan Madsen.<\/p>\n
100 actors bundle up in cold weather to depict scenes through the life of Jesus. Cars drive past the scenes, listening to audio descriptions of what is occurring at each station. Even in the see-your-breath kind of weather, volunteers said it didn\u2019t deter them from wanting to be part of the live nativity and serving the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all service. We\u2019re serving God. And because we want to bring attention to Christ, we want to show like in a physical manner, like everything that goes into the story, and people get to see it,\u201d said Beaumont Canton Crawford, a carpenter involved in the event.<\/p>\n
The event is free and doesn\u2019t accept donations. This is the third year of Journey Through Bethlehem, an event that doesn\u2019t happen overnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe start in January. We\u2019ll have our first committee meeting where we just start saying, we start going over what went well, what are the rough spots, how can we improve, how can we make it smoother,\u201d Madsen said.<\/p>\n
Alongside the actors, fire pits and over 30 live animals make the story come to life. Before the nativity began at 6 p.m., cars filled the parking lot out to the street with people looking forward to supporting those involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never done any of this before, so I just think it\u2019s going to be a really cool way to celebrate, you know, Christmas and kick off the Advent season and see the live animals and just all the hard work that goes into putting on something like this,\u201d said Naomi, an attendee.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the Christmas spirit and just getting out and about and being part of the community,\u201d said Melissa, another attendee.<\/p>\n
It takes about 15 minutes to drive through the scenes, but organizers warn that you should plan to wait in line. The event continues Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
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