The ancient city of Bethlehem bustled in the woods behind Florida’s Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church on Friday, Dec 11. It was just like every year prior to Christmas. With the exception of some light rain, all went according to plan. Two hundred cast members brought the 800-square-foot walk-through Nativity to life as it might have looked and sounded 2,000 years ago. Merchants hawked pottery, cloth, fruits, vegetables, jewelry and fresh fish. Beggars shouted “alms for the poor,” and visitors flocked to them, stuffing one-, five-, 10- and 20-dollar bills into their sacks.

Hayley and Todd Gash, as Mary and Joseph, were thrilled that their infant son Parker cooperated in playing his role as the baby Jesus, laying in a straw filled manger in the center of the city set. He slept for about 30 minutes of the 6 to 8:30 p.m. event, then was content to just be held, “hang out” and watch everybody who went by, Hayley Gash said.

The thousands of visitors who walked through the manger “were really sweet,” she said. “Some said, ‘we didn’t know Jesus had so much hair.'”

As it turned out, the visitors who came to “A Bethlehem Visit” that evening were the only ones who got to experience the popular free Christmas event this year. Saturday’s scheduled program was cancelled because of heavy rain.

In 17 years, this is the first time the Nativity ran only one night; a combination of a bad economy and bad weather limited the event. For many years, “A Bethlehem Visit” took place over three nights, on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday in December. But this year no Thursday event was scheduled because the Nativity costs the church about $50,000 to put on, and church finances have been impacted by the economic downturn.

Cast members are volunteers, and money collected by those portraying beggars helps fund the event. The church rents all the animals, including camels, llamas and goats. It also rents portable toilets, wheelchairs and many of the school buses that transport visitors to and from a parking lot several miles away.

People who came Friday were cheerful, and many seemed to be in a generous mood. Ted and Beth Miller of Ponte Vedra Beach and their 2-year-old daughter Jessie stuffed money into beggars’ sacks. Carrying a wad of 35 one-dollar bills, Ted peeled one off at a time and handed them to Jessie.

“This is just special, there’s nothing else like it,” Beth Miller said of the Nativity. “This is what Christmas means.”

Event Chairwoman Paulette Waterman said cancelling Saturday’s event was not an easy decision. The event committee met and prayed together that day, hoping the weather would turn, she said. But by 3:30 p.m., when it hadn’t, they started calling all the cast members to tell them not to come.

Waterman said she realizes many people are disappointed, because “for a lot of people, this is their family tradition.” But the event takes so much planning and coordination with volunteers and vendors that another evening can’t be rescheduled.

Waterman said church members are disappointed too. “We put on the event as a gift to the community, and when we can’t do it we feel let down.”

But they were happy with the turnout Friday. Waterman estimated about 4,000 people came, despite the drizzly weather.

“We had an excellent showing,” she said. “It will take a while for the city to dry out, so we can pack it up for next year.”

They’ll start planning in January.