Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Christmas Nativity Pageant Returns!
Saturday, December 20, 2025
- Time
- 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
- Venue
- The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints, Kingston, K0H 1S0
- Price
- Free, encouraged to bring item for food bank
The live nativity pageant, held outdoors, will be held at 2245 Battersea Rd on Dec 20, 22 and 23 with 20-minute performances each night at 6:30, 7 and 7:30pm.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will return to presenting a Christmas Nativity Pageant this year. The live nativity pageant, held outdoors with actors and live animals, will be held outside the church at 2245 Battersea Road on Dec 20, 22 and 23 with 20-minute performances each night at 6:30, 7 and 7:30pm. Members of the Kingston and surrounding communities are invited to view the pageant outside, and then warm up inside with hot chocolate and listen to Christmas hymns in the chapel. The event is free; those attending are encouraged to bring a non-perishable item for the Kingston food bank.
The pageant has been a tradition in Kingston from 1977 to 2019, with families attending every year and making viewing the pageant a part of their Christmas traditions.
Stephen Harvey, district president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, says the reasons for the return of the pageant are two-fold, “The Saviour is central to our religion and celebrating his birth during the Christmas season is very important to us. Many Latter-Day Saints have missed the joy and spirit they felt putting on the Nativity Pageant for the community.” Harvey adds, “We have heard from families in Kingston who told us that the Christmas pageant had become a wonderful and integral part of their Christmas traditions and that they have dearly missed it.”
The nativity pageant presents the Christmas story as written in the bible. It centres around the story of Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds in the New Testament book of Luke, chapter 2 as well as the wisemen in the book of Matthew, chapter 2, with the entire audio being the verses in these scriptures.
Each night a cast of 20 will play the roles of Mary, Joseph, the inn keeper, the sheperds, the angel and the wise men, and several crew members will run lights and sound. Hannah Moore, a member of the church and this year’s play director, says they are trying to involve a diverse cast, including families, the youth group, and children.
Moore says her family is planning on participating. “We plan on volunteering for at least one of the nights with our children as shepherds or townspeople. I will be directing the play, and helping to organize rehearsals and making sure everything runs smoothly during the performances.”
Moore says, “We will have three evenings of performances as a gift to the community. We plan to have refreshments and an opportunity to visit during each evening, as well as live music. We hope to support a multicultural community through the use of written translations in multiple languages.”
Moore continues by saying she wants Kingston to know, “Christ lives! The Christmas story is for everyone. It is a message of hope, of peace, of joy. A message that everything will turn out even when it feels impossibly difficult. That God will send messengers, living and angelic, to meet us in our difficulty.”
The pageant was started in 1977, shortly after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints moved into their newly constructed meetinghouse. Roy Prete and his wife Carma were instrumental in starting the Nativity Pageant in Kingston. They had visited Roy’s sister in Calgary and had attended the outdoor nativity pageant the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints put on there. Another Kingston church member, Leroy Whitehead had been an actor in the pageant in Calgary when he had lived there. Church leaders wanted to have some kind of special event to introduce their new building to the community. So, between Prete and Whitehead, with the support of the bishop, Louis P. Kooken, the idea took form.
Church members organized costumes, built a set, managed sound and lighting, and asked local farmers to provide live animals. An estimated 950 people came to the pageant that first year.
In the following years, the pageant was shortened, but attendance grew, some years exceeding 5000 people, making it a Kingston community celebration of the true meaning of Christmas.
Devin Moore, President of the Kingston branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints says, “Preparations for the pageant are going well. There’s a wonderful spirit behind the work, and everyone involved is giving their best to help this longstanding tradition come to life again. We hope the community will come and share in this special celebration.”
The pageant has been a tradition in Kingston from 1977 to 2019, with families attending every year and making viewing the pageant a part of their Christmas traditions.
Stephen Harvey, district president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, says the reasons for the return of the pageant are two-fold, “The Saviour is central to our religion and celebrating his birth during the Christmas season is very important to us. Many Latter-Day Saints have missed the joy and spirit they felt putting on the Nativity Pageant for the community.” Harvey adds, “We have heard from families in Kingston who told us that the Christmas pageant had become a wonderful and integral part of their Christmas traditions and that they have dearly missed it.”
The nativity pageant presents the Christmas story as written in the bible. It centres around the story of Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds in the New Testament book of Luke, chapter 2 as well as the wisemen in the book of Matthew, chapter 2, with the entire audio being the verses in these scriptures.
Each night a cast of 20 will play the roles of Mary, Joseph, the inn keeper, the sheperds, the angel and the wise men, and several crew members will run lights and sound. Hannah Moore, a member of the church and this year’s play director, says they are trying to involve a diverse cast, including families, the youth group, and children.
Moore says her family is planning on participating. “We plan on volunteering for at least one of the nights with our children as shepherds or townspeople. I will be directing the play, and helping to organize rehearsals and making sure everything runs smoothly during the performances.”
Moore says, “We will have three evenings of performances as a gift to the community. We plan to have refreshments and an opportunity to visit during each evening, as well as live music. We hope to support a multicultural community through the use of written translations in multiple languages.”
Moore continues by saying she wants Kingston to know, “Christ lives! The Christmas story is for everyone. It is a message of hope, of peace, of joy. A message that everything will turn out even when it feels impossibly difficult. That God will send messengers, living and angelic, to meet us in our difficulty.”
The pageant was started in 1977, shortly after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints moved into their newly constructed meetinghouse. Roy Prete and his wife Carma were instrumental in starting the Nativity Pageant in Kingston. They had visited Roy’s sister in Calgary and had attended the outdoor nativity pageant the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints put on there. Another Kingston church member, Leroy Whitehead had been an actor in the pageant in Calgary when he had lived there. Church leaders wanted to have some kind of special event to introduce their new building to the community. So, between Prete and Whitehead, with the support of the bishop, Louis P. Kooken, the idea took form.
Church members organized costumes, built a set, managed sound and lighting, and asked local farmers to provide live animals. An estimated 950 people came to the pageant that first year.
In the following years, the pageant was shortened, but attendance grew, some years exceeding 5000 people, making it a Kingston community celebration of the true meaning of Christmas.
Devin Moore, President of the Kingston branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints says, “Preparations for the pageant are going well. There’s a wonderful spirit behind the work, and everyone involved is giving their best to help this longstanding tradition come to life again. We hope the community will come and share in this special celebration.”
Venue
The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints
2245 Battersea Rd
Kingston
K0H 1S0
Dates
The event runs from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM on the following dates.
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