For the thousands of folks who made the trek to Titusville's Grace Fellowship Church (a.k.a. Bethlehem) over the past Friday and Saturday, they got a chance to see over 160 actors recreate a little Roman-ruled town set at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The zigzag drive through the church's parking lot was loaded with tiny vignettes depicting shops and artisans as well as scenes of home life.
Each elaborate set was a background for the hundreds of handmade costumes including very detailed Roman centurion uniforms complete with helmets. The helmets were the only things the church has purchased, according to one of the event organizers.
Approximately 1,300 visitors came on Friday night and cars waited in line for more than a half hour for a chance to witness the spectacle on Saturday. Each one was stopped by the Roman soldiers who remind them to pay their taxes upon leaving, however, the event is always free.
Not only did the display give the visitors, who drive through with their headlights off, a chance to see depictions of a different life and time, but it was a virtual tour of European art history as well.
Carrivagio, Rembrandt, Rubens, Michelangelo and DaVinci could be found in scene after scene.
The church has been doing this Living Nativity for about 10 years, expanding on it each year.
They bring several live animals, including a camel that travels about two hours for the event.
The show stopper though is the towering angel with an actor several feet in the air.
And, of course, at end was the little manger scene with the light of the newborn rising up from the crib.
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