Some bunny special was on Sea Bright Public Beach on Sunday and kids came out in droves to hunt eggs and that one rabbit — The Easter Bunny (or some facsimile thereof).
Continue reading Focus: Sand, Surf, Eggs & Easter Bunny in Sea Bright
Category Archives: Local Life
A look, in photos, of latest area events, local everyday people and places.
Ode to Retro RFH Baseball
Photo/George Day
It’s spring and baseball season is in full swing at RFH.
In fact, games are scheduled for today and Saturday.
So, in honor of the sport, that spiffy old RFH uniform and good times on the playing field, the Retro Pic(s) of the (George) Day offer a glimpse back to some days on the field and in the dugout back in the 1970s.
Recognize any of these guys? And, ball players, who was your favorite coach? One, for many, was the ever-popular Hal Lorme who passed away a couple of years ago.
Just thinking about the game, are ya? Take a look back and remember. Now, about those uniforms …
Thanks, once again, to the fabulous George Day for these glimpses back into RFH history!
The R-FH Area Weekend: Egg Hunting & Street Fair
After a week peppered with foul weather, forecasters are seeing the light — sunlight — peering through and making way for some weekend activity in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.
Continue reading The R-FH Area Weekend: Egg Hunting & Street Fair
Focus: Sunny Daze River Romp
Well, after more soggy, rainy days, the sun made an appearance in the Rumson-Fair Haven area and beckoned people back to the Navesink riverfront.
At the Fair Haven Dock, the scene was one of solitary sun worshipping and a little riverfront romping. Contentment. Comfort on the homefront.
As the forecast tells, the sun will just do a bit of peering on Monday. Then we’ll be hit with hazardous rainy conditions by Tuesday. So, enjoy and get your river romping in.
According to the National Weather Service, there will be rain after 11 p.m. on Monday and showers with a possible thunderstorm and a flood watch on Tuesday. Though, the temperature will hit the mid-60s. The sun comes back on Wednesday.
Happy Monday!
— Elaine Van Develde
Retro Fair Havenite’s 100th; Mrs. Suggs
Friends, family and neighbors will gather on Saturday morning to say goodbye and pay tribute to longtime Fair Havenite Mrs. Lucille Suggs.
It wasn’t all that long ago when Mrs. Suggs hit her 100th birthday.
So, the Retro Pic of the Day, offers a glimpse back to that milestone day in August of 2016.
Godspeed, Mrs. Suggs! Your memory keeps many a Fair Havenite smiling!
Retro RFH Hughes Family Showfolk Legacy
When it comes to show biz, sometimes in the RFH area, just sometimes, it’s a family affair. Sometimes it just is.
Focus: R & R on a Sunny Rumson Riverfront
After a few gloomy, dank, rainy days, the sun came out on Wednesday, the tide was low and people, ducks and dogs took to a little solace in the sun down by the river in Rumson.
Take a look … (And don’t forget to click to enlarge!)
— Elaine Van Develde
Remembering Fair Haven Police Patrolman Robert J. Henne
Today marks two years since the untimely death of 23-year-old Fair Haven Police Patrolman Robert J. Henne.
Henne, also a Fair Haven fireman, was loved dearly by his community, colleagues, friends and family.
Take a look back and remember. Thank you for your service, Robert. Rest in peace … You are remembered.
Retro Knollwood Show Time
“Times have changed,” as the lyrics to Cole Porter’s Anything Goes go …
Yes they have. And they haven’t.
The shows are still going on, but they’re quite different types of productions. The students at Fair Haven’s Knollwood School have staged Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr. The show went on in the beginning of the month.
And, way back in 1974, the school’s second ever musical was staged with the middle schoolers. You guessed it. It was Anything Goes.
Yes, times have changed, and mostly because these days they actually have junior versions of otherwise adult-like shows that aren’t really all that adult.
In fact, in those days, nothing was thought of doing a pretty darn adult musical that starred a, ahem, “lady of the evening” turned evangelist, a gangster and his maul, a stowaway, an heiress and a kooky English gentleman all aboard a ship and involved in madcap farce and love triangles.
Who knew? Well, the 1974 cast of Knollwood’s version of Anything Goes certainly didn’t.
Retro River Rats Bonding
Photo/courtesy Marc Edelman, Facebook
With the recent death and impending memorial of former longtime Fair Havenite and River Rats purser, Warner White, thoughts turn back to some good old days of being a kid rat, so to speak, and hanging out down by the river.
It’s a rite of passage in the Rumson-Fair Haven area that kid life be rife with river-oriented activities.
River Rats was the king of that sort of thing — especially in the summertime. The little riverfront nook at the foot of Battin Road in Fair Haven was that special place where kids and boating-bonded buddies learned how to sail and navigate riverfront life with the sand between their toes and perpetual smiles on their faces. It was a unique little sailors’ club. Still is.
River Rats has been a Fair Haven institution since 1955.
It all started like this: “In October 1955 shortly after he moved from New York, Captain Walter Isbrandtsen wrote to a friend: ‘I have purchased a house in a small community on the New Jersey coast where I am gradually becoming active … in an organization known as Dads Incorporated … whose activities include a newly established program designed to take full advantage of a neighboring river …'”
Captain Isbrandtsen organized the family-oriented sailing group and became the first Skipper of River Rats, as it is written in the River Rats’ biographical history.
So, the Retro Pic(s) of the Day takes us back to the U.S.A. bicentennial year of 1976 and a bunch of young River Rats.
This crew is comprised mostly of RFH classmates who gathered by the boat launch at the end of Battin Road in Fair Haven to offer a glimpse of their day as a reminder of what growing up by the river is all about.
Sail on! RIP, Warner White …
— Elaine Van Develde
Focus: Black & White Spring River Tones
Spring has sprung — sort of.
Well, the sun was shining brightly on the first day of spring, anyway. And while last week’s lingering patches of snow remained in spots throughout the Rumson-Fair Haven area, buds were popping up from underneath them.
The scene on the banks of the Navesink River at the foot of Battin Road in Fair Haven was still, mild and calming — signals of springing into a warmer sunset took hold.
It was a stark, black-and-white kind of scenario. Take a look. (Oh, and don’t forget to click to enlarge …)
Happy spring; and good night.
— Elaine Van Develde
Retro RFH Gym Class
Photo/RFH yearbook
With the sting of the cold and longing for that breath of warm fresh air, thoughts turn to days spent in the young teen sweat-infused gym at RFH. Oh, the ritual of that mandatory indoor exercise.
Ahhh, memories. More like a little PTSD remembrance of the torture the class was for some — especially when stuck inside. When you’re not an athlete and, for that matter, can barely volley a ball (and I mean barely), gym class day was the day of trying to get some sort of note of excuse from your mom to get you out of the embarrassment. Forgery became a talent. Though some moms could feel the uncoordinated kids’ pain and easily relented with prompt penning.
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