Over 40 years of Christmas tradition returns with ARC program

 

The AZ One Community Center is a few days away from annual tidings offered to the community from ARC of Freeborn County members. According to an ARC recreational assistant, the participants have the “joy” part down.

“The joy on their faces always melts my heart when they sing and perform,” Jo Lowe said.

ARC Program Director Jessica Walters said the Nativity, which has been put on annually for over 40 years now, usually brings in between 30 and 40 participants: community members of all ages with disabilities.

The Nativity pageant will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Az One Community Center, the former Baptist church at 335 W. Clark St. in Albert Lea.

The script is the same every year, though they adjust roles to suit individual capabilities. Along with Joseph, Mary and wise men, participants are shepherds, camel herders, angels, innkeepers, kings and narrators. David Anderson is a musician. This is about the only time a year he plays his guitar in public, he said. It’s Christmas. That’s important.

He started participating in the Nativity when he was young, he said, as Joseph and several years as a narrator, which he will do again this year.

“I love this,” he said.

Everybody has a part.

“It cheers up my season,” he said. “… This is one of the most, for me it’s one of my favorite things I do.”

This will be Morgan Hensch’s first year participating — he’s hoping as a wise man, his mother Heidi Hensch said.

“It was just a beautiful program last year,” she said. Now, Hensch will be a part of that.

While there are a few new faces every year, Walters said most participants keep coming back, many for the same roles as previous years.

“It really gets everyone in the holiday spirit and it’s so important to the individuals that we serve,” she said.

The program will also include around 15 songs.

“It’s usually a full house,” Walters said.

She attributes that to the enthusiasm of those putting on the Nativity.

“They’re really into the program, the participants,” Walters said. “I mean, they really play their parts.”