Local farm is Living Nativity animal source

BOARDMAN

A camel grazing on a lawn along the busy U.S. Route 224 shopping strip heralds the Christmas season and captures the attention of passing motorists, who honk their horns and give a thumbs-up signal; and many of them stop to visit.

The camel’s presence there doesn’t represent a commercial promotion, but rather, invites people to pause amid the retail hustle and bustle and reflect on the religious meaning of the season.

The occasion is the annual Journey to Bethlehem Live Nativity at Disciples Christian Church, 565 Boardman-Canfield Road.

That event, which occurred on a recent Saturday, featured the 10-year-old, 1,200-pound plus dromedary camel, named Shadrach, grazing on the church’s front lawn and eagerly posing for close-up photos with visitors.

The camel handler, Dwayne Felger, dressed as a Wise Man, also brought other friendly animals to the event from his 10-acre Green Township Farm, including a miniature cow, a miniature donkey, a Nubian goat and a pygmy goat.

Other animals living on the farm include sheep, yaks, llamas, alpacas, kangaroo and reindeer.

For Felger, who is also known to many as the owner of the Canfield Collision auto body shop, it was one of about 30 Christmas-related events, at which he and his animals appear annually in the Mahoning Valley and across Northeast Ohio.

Read MORE in Sunday's VINDICATOR.