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.
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.
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.
Longtime Rumsonite, musician, actor, director, sportsman, social justice advocate, proud dad and grandfather, the Rev. Dr. James Richard Memmott, passed away on Sept. 1 at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank. He was 89.
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 …
Raquel Falotico at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair 2015 working the dining room
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Amanda Lynn and Kim Ambrose at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair 2015
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Present-day kitchen crew, or most, after a ride at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair 2010
Photo/courtesy of Evie Connor Kelly
The guys in the kitchen back in the day at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair
Photo/courtesy of Evie Connor Kelly, FHFD Yearbook
The ladies tending to the sausage, meatballs and sauce upstairs at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair back in the day
Photo/courtesy of Evie Connor Kelly, FHFD Yearbook
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.
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.
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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