Thrusday, December 24, 1998

Family brings Nativity to life

---

For six decades, creche a tradition

BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jay Biedenharn feeds Jacob sheep Ethel and Rock. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        On Friday, as the rest of the region is opening presents, singing Christmas carols and/or bickering with relatives, members of the Biedenharn family of Crittenden will be where they always are this time of year: the Nativity scene in Eden Park.

        The family will continue the tradition that dates back 59 years and three generations, to the first year Andrew Biedenharn helped construct a Nativity scene in Lytle Park. Now it is Mr. Biedenharn's son and grandchildren who spend early November to early January bringing the birth of Jesus alive for thousands of local residents.

        “My biggest joy and accomplishment is to see the traditions continue with the people,” said Andrew's son, Jerry Biedenharn, who has overseen the annual event since the early 1970s.

        “The traditions haven't changed a bit — a lot of people who are bringing their grandchildren now were grandchildren themselves when they first started coming.”

        The tradition began in 1939, when Charles F. Williams, then head of Western-Southern Life Insurance Co., asked a local nurseryman to construct a Nativity scene as a gift to the city. Andrew Biedenharn, then an employee and later the owner of Dixie View Nursery, helped with that first scene. Western-Southern still underwrites the Nativity scene every year, and Jerry Biedenharn now owns his father's nursery.

        With a tradition born, a few changes occurred in the following years.

        The Nativity moved to Union Terminal during World War II, so soldiers in transit could see it. The whole thing burned down in 1957, only to be rebuilt the following year. A temporary move to Eden Park in 1967 turned permanent a few years later. And the eight-track sound system gave way to cassettes and then CDs a few years ago.

        But for everything that has changed, a thousand things remain the same year after year: the hundreds of excited schoolchildren petting the live sheep that graze the scene, Biedenharns dressed as shepherds patiently answering questions, high-school couples arriving late at night to “look at the scene,” and the peaceful faces of Mary, Joseph and Jesus at the center of the barn.

        “I just like to look at it and see it. It puts you in the Christmas spirit,” said Helen Lingenfelter of East Walnut Hills, on a recent visit to the Nativity scene. “It even smells like a stable.”

        Work on the Nativity scene begins about three weeks before Thanksgiving. The wood and other supplies are stored in a warehouse in Northern Kentucky, and the 16 animals in this year's exhibit live at area farms. Four or five truckloads move everything to the spot outside Krohn Conservatory, and the scene is completed around the first of December.

        From that point on, the Nativity scene is staffed 24 hours a day. Brothers Jay and Jon Biedenharn take the 7 a.m.-3 p.m. and the 3 p.m.-11 p.m. shifts. Another man sleeps overnight in an adjacent heated shed. Siblings Jeff and Jody and mom Judy also help out. In past years the family has celebrated their Christmas at 5 a.m. so they're free to watch the scene during the day.

        “We put so much effort into here that I don't put up a Christmas tree or anything, because I'm tired at the end of doing this,” said Jay, 32, who takes a month's vacation every year from his job as a Citibank trainer to help with the family enterprise.

        The crowds number in the hundreds most days and reach their peak Christmas Eve, when the Biedenharns keep the scene open until 12:30 or 1 a.m. to accommodate everyone. Western-Southern representative Wanda Bowling said the company plans to keep the tradition alive.

        “The response from the people of Cincinnati is overwhelming,” she said. “We have people who have taken their children every year since forever.”

        And despite all the work, the Biedenharns say they have no intention of quitting either.

        “It's a tradition that you experience and you grow up with,” Jay Biedenharn said. “That's what you're supposed to do.”

       

---

Family brings Nativity to life
Travel advisory: Be patient
Swans reach winter home for Christmas
Popular teacher mourned
Blind faith
Repair scam costs owners thousands
Road comes, lottery outlet goes
Zoo veterinarian goes to gorillas
head 'Easy' Christmas gifts quite a chore
$1.7 B county budget approved
Activities dampen kids' winter whines
Beer memorabilia on tap
Charter school enrolls Heimlich
Chiquita defendant's lawyer questions prosecutors' roles
Counterfeitershit Middletown area
Eight-time DUI driver indicted on 46 charges
Employees charged after fights inside bar
Kenton loses $93,000 appeal
Local agencies have share of federal homeless funds
Man charged with raping girlfriend, son
Middletown man pleads insanity in slaying
Museum appeal hits snag
TRISTATE DIGEST
Wyoming's new Web site to be gateway to city hall
It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas
Some Ky. politicians get early Christmas presents