 Beginning in 1973, the American Christian Heritage Association (a group based in Prince George's County, Maryland) began hosting a private nativity display complete with live animals on The Ellipse.In 1978, another lawsuit over the Pageant of Peace was filed.The government had banned all groups not associated with the Pageant of Peace from the Ellipse (even though it only used a one-fourth of the Ellipse's total area for the pageant), but permitted them to use lightly wooded areas nearby.