so he knew he wanted to contribute to that same small-town feel when he moved to Morgan Hill.“ The thing that makes this festival so unique is that everybody knows each other. I think it’ s an important reminder that, regardless of how different we might be or our backgrounds or beliefs, we live together. We shop at the same stores, we live in the same country, we all want to provide food and shelter for our kids and make sure they’ re safe and healthy, and that drives us together,” Stein said.
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Memories that stand out the most for Stein are seeing the crowd cheer for Grand Marshals, such as their local high school principal, or for essential workers during the pandemic. It has been moving to see the respect and support shown to the community’ s veterans and for the national anthem.“ We’ ll have 80 to 100,000 people— and it’ s hard enough to get five people to do the same thing at the same time— but somehow everyone stands up, takes off their hat, and does the national anthem. That’ s humbling,” Stein said.
Jordan Hubert, Freedom Fest’ s new Publicity Chair, has also been enjoying the welcoming small-town community vibe. Since he moved to Morgan Hill five years ago, he has attended every Freedom Fest. Last year, he and his wife decided to volunteer and he loved it so much that he became more involved.“ There’ s no doubt about the sense of unity you get. Even just the comments I’ ve been seeing from what I’ ve been posting on our social media channels, you can see how much this event means to people. It’ s just incredible,” Hubert said. It’ s been moving for him to see the pictures people have been sharing from past Freedom Fests and seeing stories that span years or decades.
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