Retro Fair Haven Snow Day Sirens — Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect

A snow day on Third Street in Fair Haven back in the 1960s
Photo/Kathy Robbins

Well, after a lot of warnings and prep, the week’s ones played host to the snowstorm that wasn’t. Oh, there was some snow and freeze, but it was no Blizzard of ’96 or ’78. Yes, back in the day, there were plenty of snowstorms that actually snowed Rumson-Fair Haven area folks in and left them to their own devices for resorting to fun in the freezing white stuff.

In Fair Haven back in the 1960s (through the 80s), it was common practice for kids to rear their sleepy little heads and crack a smile when they heard the fire horn signal that there would be no school due to snow. Or, rather, they’d stay up all night long, noses pressed up against the frosty window. Then they’d fall asleep, nose to the window, and be awoken by the fire horn blast. Oh, and it was a jolting, happy blast.

Once it was heard, it didn’t take much longer for kids to suit up and get outside … in the street. Yes, in the street. And if parents didn’t feel like driving to Tower Hill or Holmdel Park, the place to go was, well, anywhere where there was a hill. Third street was the in-town spot. Police would come to barricade the street and then word was out from the neighborhood kids on …

The hills at Sportsman’s Field worked pretty well, too. But, the Retro Pic of the Day, courtesy of Kathy Robbins, is the perfect Third Street snow day picture.

“Everyone would be out on the hill all day and night,” Robbins said. But these neighborhood kids were the first on this day.

This group includes little Liz Robbins ready to try to join the sledding group of Bobby Smith, Billy Smith and Kevin Pettigrew.

Can you remember what the fire horn code was for the snow day signal? How about the one for safe ice for ice skating? No internet back in the day, so it was all about rotary phone calls and that fire horn. Does anyone have a list of those fire horn signals and what each represented?