Bob and Janet Niederman have been dairy farmers in Liberty Twp. for their entire lives and have offered the Christmas Walk to the public for the last 12 years. Although the Niederman farm is a multigenerational enterprise involving children and fully grown grandchildren, with year-round activities such as paintball, corn mazes and spring tours, the Christmas Walk differs in two ways: It is exclusively Bob and Janet’s, and it is entirely free and open to the public.

“When my son and daughter-in-law moved in, they decided there wasn’t enough ground for farming, so they decided to diversify,” Janet Niederman said. “They started with paintball and the farm festival, and it became their enterprise to make a living.”

Niederman described the Christmas Walk as a “walk through the Bible,” with life-sized figures depicting the major scenes from the book of Genesis all the way to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, all illuminated by one million lights.

“People like it because it’s different,” she said. “You see a lot of light displays around but not too many Biblical displays. We like to keep the Bible stories and the meaning of Christmas alive, to keep the Christ in Christmas.”

The Walk also features Christmas music playing via 50 speakers throughout. When all is said and done, visitors can warm up in the heated barn with hot chocolate, cookies and a variety of live music. The Walk is also the rare holiday event that remains open on Christmas Eve and Night.

“It depends on the weather, but people do come (on those nights),” Niederman said. “Last year, we had more people than we’ve ever had (overall). We don’t do a count, so the only we can judge is how many Styrofoam cups we went through, about 13,000. It’s always fun to look at the guestbook and see 25 states represented and half a dozen countries. A lot of times it’s people coming from far away visiting relatives for Thanksgiving. It’s really not a lot of people considering how many live in the area, but we can’t do a lot of paid advertising.”

Indeed, profit was never the motive behind the Walk. When the Niedermans originally planned to do this, they purchased the life-sized Biblical figures at an auction. Still, they do appreciate donations.

“We have a large electric bill in January,” she said.