West Bend takes steps to protect nativity scene, after Baby Jesus' head, arm removed last year

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WEST BEND, Wis. (CBS 58)  -- The West Bend nativity scene will be set up downtown this week, but there will be changes after it was vandalized multiple times last year.

The baby Jesus figurine was stolen and later found headless and missing an arm last December. Soon after, a woman was caught stealing the replacement baby Jesus figurine.

"It was a bad Christmas season from the nativity last year,” Events Director at Downtown West Bend Association Anna Jensen said. “For someone to do that around the Christmas season, it’s not OK.”

This year, Thrivent Financial donated a new nativity scene to the city. The scene will return to Old Settlers Park, but all of the pieces will be attached and boarded down, making it much harder to steal any of the pieces. Trail cameras will go up too.

“We want to avoid what happened last year. We don’t want pieces taken or destroyed," Jensen said. "This is a brand new set and we want to keep this in the community for a long time." 

In hopes that families can come together to see the nativity scene downtown during the holidays.

“It brings joy, it’s another decoration downtown,” Jensen said. “Just another reminder of why we have Christmas.”

The old nativity scene was restored and donated to a local church. The grand reveal of the new nativity scene will be held at Old Settlers Park on Monday, November 19 at 3 p.m. 

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