Category Archives: Local Life

A look, in photos, of latest area events, local everyday people and places.

Happy Retro RFH Halloween!

Happy haunting Halloween from the RFH Class of ’78!

Who are those guys and ghouls?

Thanks to George Day for these timeless photos!

Focus: Sandy, Five Years Ago

It was the year that Halloween wasn’t. It was 2012 and Superstorm Sandy had pummeled the Jersey Shore. It decimated Sea Bright and destroyed low lying parts of Rumson. Fair Haven was a bit war torn and powerless.

Beach cabanas landed like Dorothy’s house to the Witch of the East on West Park lawns. Boats were hoisted by surging water onto dock tops and back yards. Gunning Island, in the Shrewsbury River, was loaded with the moored belongings of Sea Bright and Rumson people. Trees were downed. Transformers exploded.

Sea Bright residents were homeless. The beach was in the road. Sea Bright Rising began with some good-hearted burger flipping by Woody’s owner Chris Wood and chef Onofrio Moscato. The U.S. Army National Guard was parked in the Sea Bright municipal lot. There was no electricity.

There was a curfew. At nightfall, people scurried back into their homes, if there was anything left to go home to, like moles burrowing into cold, still night. Things were awfully dark. And Halloween was cancelled. There was no treat in Sandy’s trickery, just in the kindness of those who were good neighbors.

Take a look back … (and click to enlarge).

— Elaine Van Develde

Photos/Elaine Van Develde

Retro RFH Halloween Parading

RFH ghouls, or something like that, on parade in 1977
Photo/George Day

Well, scary season is upon us. I’m not talking about politics, I’m talking about Halloween.

RFHers have been celebrating Halloween for decades. It’s a tradition.

Today was the RFH Halloween parade, which is in the halls, on the grounds and sometimes spilling elsewhere.

So, the Retro Pic of the (George) Day honors the RFH Halloween parade with a look back on one in the 1970s.

Recognize any of these guys and ghouls?

Thanks to George Day for this haunting look back at Halloween RFH style! 

Retro Remembrance: Rumson Jersey Girl Kit Rowett

She might have hated all this attention. Then again, maybe not. It’s a pretty sure bet that it would have at least cracked a smile on her face, perhaps followed by an eye roll and a wise crack. Sister Chris told me that during the end of her battle with cancer, Kit Rowett (White) was enjoying reconnecting with friends on Facebook and remembering good times with old friends and family.

Continue reading Retro Remembrance: Rumson Jersey Girl Kit Rowett

Retro RFH Hunt Party Starters II

RFHers get supplies to the tailgates at The Hunt in the late 1970s or early 80s
Photo/RFH reunion slideshow screenshot

So, at last retro view of The Hunt, RFHers were making their way onto the grounds of the Amory Haskell estate in the late 1970s or early 80s with lots supplies and spirit (or spirits) in tow.

Continue reading Retro RFH Hunt Party Starters II

Focus: Fair Haven Halloween Parading

It wasn’t the Addams Family, but Sunday’s Fair Haven Halloween parade certainly brought out a lot of creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and altogether ooky friends and neighbors for a little marching and celebrating of the season of the witch, pumpkin, ghost and anything else of a fall haunting ilk.

Continue reading Focus: Fair Haven Halloween Parading

The R-FH Area Weekend: Memorializing, Parading & More

The sun is shining on the Rumson-Fair Haven area. The weather forecast is one of toasty, sun-drenched, crisp fall days ahead. The time is right for some celebrating of life, remembrance, meeting and greeting, blood donating, egg hunting and parading.

Continue reading The R-FH Area Weekend: Memorializing, Parading & More

Focus: Car Show Cruising

The Fair Haven Fire Department Fire Police & Auxiliary Car Show made its 18th appearance on the firehouse grounds on Sunday.

In the hopes of having a bit more sun to shine on the day, organizers shifted it to the rain date from the originally planned Saturday event.

There was a big showing and turnout.

Take a look (and please forgive the blurriness of some of the photos. The photographer was a bit out of focus herself with a fall cold.) But, don’t forget to enlarge! Enjoy!

— Elaine Van Develde