WINTERPORT – As the clock on the Union Meetinghouse chimes at 7 tonight, angels will appear in a burst of bright light and Joseph and Mary will approach the inn, a Christmas tradition in this riverside community since 1967.

Beth McGeechan Thieme, who has directed the event for three years, appeared in the pageant as a child, has portrayed Mary, an angel and a shepherd. Her own children also take part in the Nativity scene.

“This has always been a community thing,” she said after a rehearsal last weekend. “All the families in town did something for it when I was a kid, just like they are doing now. Now, there are about six families like mine that are into the second generation.”

The program was first presented 33 years ago when the Rev. Gil McDowell, then pastor of the Winterport United Methodist Church, invited St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church and Calvary Apostolic Church to join. Thieme took over the program in 1997 after the United Methodist Church closed.

“Because I had been part of it, I didn’t want to see it die,” she said. “The script has never changed. We work toward keeping it the same every year.”

This year’s narrators will be the Rev. Jean Paul LaBree of St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church and the Rev. Wilbur Strout of Calvary Apostolic Church. The churches store the costumes and let the children know about the event, Thieme said.

The younger children appear in the pageant while the older ones collect pine boughs used to cover the manger. Live animals always are part of the production and this year a donkey, calf and sheep will “co-star.”

Emma Thieme, 11, has been in the pageant since she was 5 and played the littlest angel in the manger. She also has played Mary. This year she will be a shepherd one night and an angel on the hill above the manger the next.

Beth Thieme has never had to struggle for volunteers. About 200 people line Main Street each year to watch and join in Christmas carols.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to be a part of, and it gives me such a joyous feeling when I leave each night,” she said. “I do it because of how wonderful it makes everyone feel and how it conveys the true spirit of Christmas. It’s a gift from the churches to the community to make sure the real spirit of Christmas is alive in Winterport.

The program will begin at 7 tonight. Thieme suggested people park on Main Street away from the Union Meetinghouse or on a side street, and bring flashlights.