Community builds a Bethlehem

Like the fabled Brigadoon which awoke every 100 years, the ancient city of Bethlehem comes to life each Christmas season in Westlake Village.

Each year Westminster Presbyterian Church invites the community to drive through the town and see it as it appeared at the time of Christ’s birth. There are live animals, (including a camel), food cooking over open firepits, a bustling marketplace, traditional Hebrew music and dance and more than 100 members of the congregation in period garb populating the streets.

The Bethlehem Experience will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Sat., Dec. 10 and from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Sun., Dec. 11. Westminster Presbyterian Church is at 32111 Watergate Road, Westlake Village. The event is free. For more information, call (818) 889-1491 or visit www.gotoBethlehem.com.

—Leslie Gregory Haukoos

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers OH LITTLE TOWN—Top, Chuck Seabury of Westlake Village touches up the gate to Bethlehem during the Westminster Presbyterian Church “building blitz” last Saturday. Above, Susie Forrest and Jim Latson, both of Oak Park, put the finishing touches on a weaver’s loom. The Bethlehem village opens Dec. 10.