Crystal and Nick Dauer and son Jace are cast as Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in 2015 Springfield Nativity Pageant.

Nativity Pageant will be performed for the 30th season this weekend

The Springfield Area Nativity Theatre Association will present the Springfield Nativity Pageant for the thirtieth season this weekend with one performance under the stars in Riverside Park at 7:00 p.m. Friday, December 11, and Saturday, December 12.

For   30 years, the community of Springfield has produced a Pageant of Christmas with the profound desire that all who share in it will experience hope, faith, love and everlasting joy — the true meaning of Christmas.

In the spirit of the season, back in 1985, volunteers began visioning and planning for a special event for Springfield. That event turned out to be a pageant that brought the story of The First Christmas to life. Volunteers wrote the script, selected music, sewed costumes, prepared the buildings, and conducted fund-raising to financially support the pageant that is presented free of charge — a gift from the community of Springfield.

When the pageant was unwrapped 30 years ago — a production staged in the outdoors of a Minnesota winter — most people never imagined how heartwarming and popular it would become.  Over the past 29 years, thousands of people have flocked to the “Little town of Bethlehem: in Springfield for the performances — some returning year after year because the pageant has become a Christmas tradition. 

During the past 29 years, the Springfield Area Nativity Theatre Association (SANTA) has presented 126 performances. A number of SANTA’s workers have been involved in all 126 performances as cast, choir, or crew with dozens of workers behind the scenes. While these people have given hundreds of hours of time and efforts during the past three decades, most of them have never been under the spotlights; but it is because of their commitment and work and the endorsement of all local churches that Springfield is celebrating the thirtieth season of our community’s Christmas Pageant.  For more on the Nativity Pageant check this week's Springfield Advance-Press.

Springfield Advance-Press

13 S. Marshall Avenue PO Box 78 Springfield, MN 56087

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