MIDWAY — Wise men and women have learned how to handle the host of people flocking here to the annual live manger scene.
"They'll wait in the stake center across the street where it's warm and there's music and entertainment until it's their turn to go over to the nativity," said RaeLynn Kohler, chairwoman for the event that has grown to attract increasing hundreds of visitors since starting five years ago.
"We used to hold it the last Saturday night before Christmas, but we had to expand it to four days," Kohler said.
Tonight is the last night to take in the scene between 6 and 8 p.m.
Time travelers back to the night of Jesus' birth should gather at the Midway LDS Stake Center, 165 N. Center St. This also happens to be the site of the highly popular Interfaith Christmas Crche Exhibit, featuring more than 500 nativity scenes from different cultures around the world.
Visitors to the live manger scene go diagonally across the road in groups of 10 to 12 to a barn behind the home of Rick and Connie Tatton, 50 N. 100 East.
The big red barn with the large white "CB" letters on the side is an award-winning structure, recognized by the Barn Again National Society, and has been a treasured Midway landmark since Rick's great-great-grandfather, Andreas Burgener, built it in the 1870s.
Usually, Tatton keeps his collector cars in the barn, but for this occasion, the Mustangs are moved out. Also, several sheep who call part of the barn home stand aside for the holy family.
"They can still throw in a few bleats to add to the atmosphere," Tatton said.
A donkey graced the scene one year, but it proved to be fairly tight quarters for an animal with a mind all its own.
"We didn't have any big problems, but the potential liabilities outweighed the benefits," Kohler said.
So the baby, Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, a king and a small boy constitute the nativity. Everything's as reminiscent as possible of the time of the Holy Child's birth, save for one small concession to winter.
"There's an electric blanket under the little boy. They're out there about 2 1/2 hours and it's pretty cold in the barn," Kohler said.
Visitors are in the barn about five minutes to hear music and narrative telling of the holy night.
It never fails to produce a magical moment, Kohler said.
"It's emotional. People don't talk. They just look and listen," she said.
Priests and elders from the nine wards of the Midway Stake walk the groups over, hoping to set a tone.
"People are encouraged to walk slowly and solemnly along a path of luminarias," Kohler said. "We have people tell us all the time that everything seems to be getting farther and farther away from the true spiritual experience of the season, but this is one thing that brings them back to the center of Christmas."
E-mail: gtwyman@desnews.com