Gene Freiburger is one of those volunteers who was humbled by being named Volunteer of the Year.

“I feel there are other volunteers that deserve this honor more than I do,” Freiburger said. “I want to thank MVL CDG for thinking of me for the award, though.”

Freiburger has been helping with events at Magical Night for more than 30 years. He started helping with St Paul Lutheran Church’s Living Nativity Scene in the mid 1990s. About four years ago, he started helping with the trolley rides as part of the Magical Night festival.

His favorite part of being involved in the Living Nativity Scene and trolley rides has been working with other community and church volunteers. “That, and bringing forth a message of hope,” Freiburger said.

This year, Freiburger worked with Tim Kelley to come up with a solution that would allow the trolley rides to continue and do so in a safe manner. “That was a very rewarding project to work on alongside Tim,” Freiburger said. “It was very hands on to design and come up with a solution.”

Freiburger said that the whole project consisted of three to four committee meetings discussing the new gates that will be used for Magical Nights along the intersection of Highway 1 and First Street. He and Tim Kelley also put in roughly six to eight hours fabricating the new gates and then testing them out to make sure they work.

For anyone who is sitting on the fence about volunteering for a community celebration, Freiburger encourages them to get involved and ask what they can do to help.

Freiburger has been a member of Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Mount Vernon, and will will help set up their Sauerkraut Days stand in the next week.

“I’ve also worked with the Rotary handicap ramp build and installation projects in the area,” Freiburger said.

Freiburger said he wants to extend a huge thank you to MV-LCDG and all the volunteers that “work hard to make our community a better place to live.”