A long-time hobby collection for two friends has become an annual spectacle for southwest residents in Hodgeville ahead of the Christmas season.

The Night Before Jesus Was Born which features hundreds of nativity scenes will return for year 13 beginning this morning and run until Sunday night at the Hodgeville Community Centre.

Anne Barkman and a friend helped establish the event a decade and a half ago by combining their personal collections. 

"We're interested in sharing them and going back to what the real reason of Christmas is all about," she said. "We have nothing but nativity scenes at our display."

Barkman now has around 275 of her own displays and pools those together with sets from about a dozen other individuals. That creates an extravaganza of over 1,100 nativity scenes.

"We're blown away by the different styles and mediums people use," she said. "We can probably count on one hand, maybe two of the duplicates that will be there. We have scenes from all different kinds of countries, many homemade ones, and many handcrafted ones."

The scenes can range in size from a simple lapel pin to big outdoor one.

The event runs from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. today and Saturday. The final day on Sunday is from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Admission is free and includes crafts for kids, hot chocolate, hot apple cider, coffee, Christmas baking, and fruit.

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