Experience Bethlehem takes place Dec. 8-10 at Clear Fork Alliance Church, 1008 St. Rt. 97 in Bellville. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Each session lasts two hours. Admission is free.
BELLVILLE — It’s not every day you see a llama in a church gymnasium.
But the weekend of Experience Bethlehem is anything but ordinary for the parishioners at Clear Fork Alliance.
One weekend a year, members and friends of the Bellville church host Experience Bethlehem, an immersive tour that helps visitors imagine what life might have been like during the time of Christ.
Kaitlyn Marett spent Friday night guiding tour groups through the 10 scenes, complete with volunteer reactors, that tell the Christmas story.
But Marett said her favorite part of the event is what comes next — when guests are free to roam through the replica village of Bethlehem.
“They totally transform our gym and make it a whole new world,” she said.
“It’s really cool to watch the little kids go through it and their eyes open up because they’re like they’ve heard these stories, but this is what it looks like. They just get so excited about it.”
Each visit begins with a stop by the tax collector’s booth to register and pick up a bag of faux gold coins.
The coins can be used at various Bethlehem shops to sample staples like honey, olives and grapes.
Visitors can also purchase small items like jewelry and scrolls or stop by the perfume station to make their own potpourri.
Co-director Cindy Merrin said it takes about 120 volunteers to pull off the event each year. Recruitment starts around September; set-up begins about two weeks before the doors open.
“It involves everybody in the church. They’re either praying for it or baking a cookie or hanging scenery or being in the scenes,” Merrin said. “It’s our way of getting the gospel out into the community.”
Merrin said the church keeps the event mostly historically accurate, but they also offer coffee and cookies — something you wouldn’t have found in the Bethlehem of Jesus’ day.
Anthony and Bev Simpson have been volunteering at the honey booth for about a decade.
“It’s fun, especially when they get a lot of people back here,” Bev said. “Just like Bethlehem was back in the day, when Mary and Joseph couldn’t find any room in the inn.”
Cindy Ruckman of McFarland’s Llama Farm also volunteered, keeping order among the animals at the live nativity scene with her 8-year-old granddaughter Emma.
Ruckman loaned the church her llama, two sheep and two chickens for the event.
“This is what makes Christmas for us,” she said. “I just love sharing the animals and the true story of Christmas and getting in the Christmas spirit.”
This year marks Clear Fork Alliance’s 22nd Experience Bethlehem event, according to Merrin.
Dan and Gretchen Jones have brought their three children to Bethlehem each year since their oldest was a baby.
“It sets the tone for what Christmas is really about,” Gretchen said. “It’s fun because the kids get to learn the story of the birth of Christ and they get to experience it in a very tangible way.”
Lead pastor Matt Merendino manned the olive and grape stand alongside his wife, Missy. He said the event benefits the community as well as the church.
“I love doing Bethlehem. It brings the whole church together,” he said. “It’s fun to be together and to serve together. I think people remember they like each other and they like hanging out with each other.”
