'Walk through Bethlehem' still brings people to tears in 10th year

MANATEE -- Tammy Bass, founder of Samoset First Baptist Church's iconic "Walk Through Bethlehem," is often asked: "Why don't you do the performances for more than two days?"

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the "Walk," which transforms an ordinary, modern day Bradenton church grounds into a bustling Bethlehem 2,000 years ago on the night Christ was born, Bass still has the same reply.

"A lot of people say: 'Why don't you do it two weekends or why don't you do it longer or it's so much work for only two days,' " Bass said. "But I keep reminding them that we don't measure the time we do it but rather the number of lives we touch in those two days."

The event, which will offer continuous tours of "Bethlehem" this Christmas season from 4:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 5-6 at 3200 15th St. E., Bradenton, has drawn a record 1,100 people each day the last two years.

"Eleven hundred people is a better way of looking at it than how many days we do it," Bass said. "So, it would be awesome if we broke the record for attendance this year."

It is much more than a Nativity scene, Bass said.

A tour guide dressed in period costume greets tourists at the city gate, introduces them to the intimidating tax collector and takes them through the hectic and sometimes frighteningly realistic marketplace where Roman soldiers are wary of everything going on. Tourists are reminded not to incur the attention of the soldiers.

There is a lot to do to stay busy. Shopkeepers are selling bread, fish, baskets and spice.

Tourists can attend a synagogue service and visit an inn where Mary and Joseph were turned away due to lack of room, and the stable where baby Jesus has been born and lays on a bed of hay.

Taking a role in the play is a special experience, said Jessica Casper, a first-timer who will play Jesus' mother, Mary.

"I've been coming to church for almost a year now and talking to Miss Tammy and getting closer with her and she was talking to me about Bethlehem and I was really interested in playing the part of Mary and she gave me the part. It means a lot to me," Casper said. "I want to be a part of spreading the word of Christ and I feel this could be an opportunity."

Cheryl Nelson of Bradenton came to Walk last year and said the feeling of going back in time was riveting.

"When I went through it, it was amazing," Nelson said. "You are really there. You are really in Biblical times. I wanted to be a part of it really badly,"

Nelson met a church member and asked if she could just come as a volunteer for the play. She ended up landing a speaking part.

"I'm the spice lady," she said proudly. "I sell spices."

Asked to give her lines, she boomed out: "Spices! We have the finest. Can I interest you in any spices tonight? We have all the spices that you need for your home."

Seeing the expressions on tourist's faces the moment they pass through the gate and enter the city is Bass' reward for the years of hard work creating the sensory experience that is "Walk."

"I especially cherish the look on the faces after they first come out of the gate after the tax collector area and they see everything all lit up and decorated," Bass said. "It's neat to see them taking it all in."

The free tour takes roughly 35 minutes, but if crowds are waiting, a tourist group might have to sit in the Samoset chapel for awhile waiting for their party's name to be called. Anyone signed up by 8:30 p.m. is guaranteed a tour, Bass said.

Area churches play music to entertain those waiting for the Walk.

Children are welcome and Bass advises families to bring coloring books or toys for small children to entertain them during the wait for the tour.

The elderly and those in wheelchairs are also welcome although Bass points out the tour is mostly on grass so it might be a bit bumpy in a wheelchair. Wheelchairs are available.

The tour is about emotion, Bass said.

"People often have very moving experiences at the end," Bass said. "When they see Jesus on the cross, that is what really breaks them to tears."

Sometimes, Walk brings people back to church or to church the first time, Bass said.

"There was a family that went through it two years ago and their little girls didn't even know who Jesus was," Bass said. "The girls yelled out: 'Who is that man up there? Get him down." They were worried about Jesus. Their relatives were able to take them to church for Christmas and they started church after that."

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline " 'Walk through Bethlehem' still brings people to tears in 10th year ."