Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Williamsburg neighbors bring Nativity to life
WILLIAMSBURG — Far from the desert sands that are its natural habitat, an Egyptian camel named Pharoah helps bring the Biblical Christmas story to life on a farm southwest of Williamsburg.
Every few years — six since the last time — Dennis Oliver gathers sheep, donkeys, alpacas, llamas, camels and other exotic animals to create a roadside Nativity scene on his farm at 2663 M. Avenue.
Mannequins from an old Younkers department store serve as Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus, but the animals are real.
“We like to have a variety of animals,” said Oliver. His Nativity contains primarily Biblical ones, he said.
Some Biblically authentic animals are harder to get than others, said Oliver. The Jacob’s four-horned sheep, one of oldest breeds, can be traced back to the Mediterranean thousands of years ago and is mentioned specifically in the Bible.
Oliver’s Nativity is lighted during the night and easy to see. Visitors have stopped to look since Oliver and his neighbors put it up before Thanksgiving.
“Word of mouth has spread pretty fast on it,” Oliver said. The animals and mannequins will be in their roadside enclosure through New Year’s Day.
Oliver puts out the display about every six years, “when we get the time and the motivation and the money to do it.”
“The last time we did it was 2017,” said Kelsi Cox. She and her husband Colin live a couple of miles north and help Oliver construct the live Nativity.
“The display is a tribute to our heritage and thanks for our American freedoms,” said Kelsi.
“It takes a lot of volunteer labor and time,” Oliver said. In addition to Kelsi and Colin, Chuck Martin, his son Mitch and neighbor Rick Zimmerman put in a lot of time and labor creating the display, Oliver said.
The neighbors put up a 40-foot pole to display a lighted star over the manger scene. They placed 80 big, round cornstalk bales in a semicircle to create a windbreak for the animals, and they put lights on the inside of the gates so people can see the animals from the road.
“We did have lights all the way around, but the camel’s been eating them,” said Oliver.
The display also requires money. The big bales cost $80 each, the small bales are $8, and the electrical setup cost about $1,800. Most people aren’t crazy enough to do something like this, Oliver said.
“The sheep we got just for this year,” said Cox. Paroah the camel has been on the Oliver farm for a while, purchased with the Nativity in mind, she said.
“Animals just fascinate me,” said Oliver.
When the Nativity is taken down, Kelsi will break the camel and train it so it can be ridden, said Oliver.
The camel from the last Nativity was trained so well that a Shriner bought it and took it the Shriner’s Hospitals to cheer up the children there.
“This camel has a similar disposition,” said Oliver.
“Animals age much more rapidly than humans, so we usually start with younger ones,” said Oliver. “And we do keep some of them around, and they become pets.”
Though living in pens, the animals “don’t have it too bad,” said Oliver. They are well fed on grain and alfalfa and are sheltered from the wind.
“If PETA comes by, they’ll be impressed with how well the animals are being cared for,” Oliver joked.
“We still have the freedom in America to do these things. And I’ve gotten so many emails and notes from people who drive by,” he said.
One woman passes the lighted display on her way to work at 3 a.m., Oliver said. She wrote that seeing the Nativity on those dark, cold mornings lifts her spirits.
