Cole Lake 101 Nativities keeps going strong in its ninth year

Craig Bakay | Nov 27, 2019

It’s still called 101 Nativities but every year it seems to get a little bigger.

When Jean Freeman and Kris Caird started out collecting Nativity scenes for a display nine years ago, they were concerned about reaching the 101 mark. But this year, the count reached 260 as of Friday night as the Cole Lake Free Methodist Church welcomed the community for its annual pre-Christmas celebration displaying Nativity scenes collected from around the world.

“We couldn’t do it without the people who donate their Nativities for the display,” said Freeman. “Plus the people who help putting out the Nativities (like Cindy McMahon) and taking them down.

“Taking them down and putting them back in boxes is actually more strenuous.”

One thing that immediately strikes the viewer is the vast variety of approaches to the standard vision of Christ’s birth.

“There’s no limit to people’s imagination and their ability to stay true to the subject matter,” Freeman said.

For example, there are Nativities made of wood, stone, crochet, plastic, clay, even Kevlar. They come with individual figures or all in one examples. (“The one-piece ones are easier to put out,” she said.)

There are snow globes, clocks, and displays made from twisted banana leaves.

And they come from all over the world, from Canadian First Nations depictions to Rwanda, Haiti, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Guatemala, Peru, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Germany as well as several from Israel.

“And of course the kids get to make their own Nativity Scene,” she said. “That’s very popular.

“But there are so many, you just can’t get them all in one glance.”

Freeman said she’d like to do something special for the 10th one next year but hasn’t decided what that might be yet.

“We have started going more rustic with the shelves in the corner,” she said. “We might go even more rustic next year.”