Prosecutor: 34-Year-Old Man Gets Probation with Conditions for Animal Cruelty Charge

A 34-year-old Asbury Park man was sentenced on Friday to probation and community service after pleading guilty in May to animal cruelty and hindering apprehension, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced in a released statement.

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Fair Remembrance: Chairman’s Footnotes

James Acker
Photo/Kathy Robbins

On the year without the fair … We look back to a story originally published in 2015 all about just how the largest firemen’s fair in the state was run and a bit about that famous clam chowder. The details come straight from a longtime fair chairman and his son years later … RIP, Jim Acker. All’s fair ….

There was a time when there was one. Now there are three. We’re talking Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair chairmen. Yes, there was one person in charge of all that’s fair, getting it started and keeping it going. That guy was James Acker back in the day a few decades ago from the late 1960s to early ’80s. Then it was Gary Verwilt, former longtime Knollwood School teacher.

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Prosecutor: One Critically Injured in Shooting Incident

Monmouth County law enforcement officials are investigating a Wednesday night shooting in Asbury Park that left one victim critically injured, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

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Rumson: Golden Goose Jewelers Store Owner Charged with $260K Theft

The owner of Rumson store Golden Goose Jewelers was charged today with theft after allegedly failing to return more than $260,000 worth of jewelry that was left at his store on consignment or for redesign, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced in a released statement.

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Fair Remembrance: Someone’s in the Kitchen

Just when the guy in charge of the kitchen has retired, a pandemic comes along and obliterates the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair and all that annual fine fair food. So, on the year without a fair, we look back again to our 2015 story of fair food, who did it all back in the day, what was done, how and who’s still cooking. Can you wait another year? The absence of fair food wafting through the air likely has everyone drooling for the next fair already … No one’s in the kitchen this year but the ghosts. They’re always there …

By Elaine Van Develde

Someone’s in the kitchen at Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair grounds.

And while they may have, at one point another been with someone named Dinah, as the old ditty goes, it’s a definite they’ve been with someone named Mike, Dale, Sue (x2), Raquel, Ethel (x2), Mary, Anne, Amanda, Skippy, Hodgie, Mary Ellen, Joe, Evie, and, oh, yeah, Andy and a few others.

And they certainly haven’t been strummin’ on any ol’ banjo. They’ve been way too busy — cutting, peeling, filling, flouring, husking and just plain cooking.

Except there’s nothing plain about what’s cooking in the fair kitchen, who’s cooking it, when, where, why or how.

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Fair Remembrance: My Balloon Mama

The following piece was originally published in August of 2015. Here it is again, on the year without a fair, in honor of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair and my mom, Sally Van Develde, to whom this site is dedicated along with my dad, Bill … 

Sally Van Develde selling balloons at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair Grab Bag Booth

Growing up in Fair Haven with parents in the fire company, Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair time meant time spent inflating punch balls during the day and helium balloons at night.

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Fair Remembrance: A Firemen’s Night

They call it Family Night now. But, the Wednesday night of each Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair is forever Firemen’s Night to any kid who grew up hearing sirens blaring through the streets where they lived on that eve that welcomed and honored firefighters from near and far to the fair grounds.

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