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Retro Thanksgiving Meal Deals

Reprise! Just because it’s pretty fun to look back with us again at just what it used to cost to shop for the feast … Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Oh, it’s that time — when people were out gobbling up final hour deals on their Thanksgiving meal ingredients.

So, the Retro Pic(s) of the Day take us back to one supermarket of the past, another old standard, and turkey dinner deals of the 1960s or 70s? Guess what year these Red Bank Register ads were published.

Remember Finast? Remember where it was? Well, the store’s turkey day sale involved the bird at 49 cents a pound or a beef roast for 98.

And how about this Foodtown ad? The offer there was the same for the Thanksgiving bird — 49 cents per pound. Though the Foodtown roast was $1.09. And how about those nuts at 39 cents? If only the price of nuts wasn’t so nuts nowadays. Bacon, too. When was the last time you saw bacon sold for 69 cents per 1lb package?

A long time ago, that’s when. For the food prices of yesteryear we give thanks — or a little cry.

How much did you pay per pound for your bird this year?

Scene Around: State Champ Bulldog Bliss

Jenny and Nick Costello celebrate the RFH Varsity Football state championship winning moment
Photo/courtesy of Jenny Costello

It’s double the RFH pride when the Bulldogs win the varsity state football championship, you’re a player and your cheering section is headed by your RFH grad mom.

Of course, moms are number one fans; but, the RFH connection between this mother and son just makes this on-the-field capture all the more Bulldog meaningful. That’s because the moment is one between 1993 grad Jenny Jones Costello and son Nick, an RFH senior and linebacker for the team.

Yes, by now, most know that the RFH Varsity Football team won the state championship with Friday night’s playoff win against Hazlet’s Raritan High School 34-27, making them the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 2 champions.

Those winning two-generation RFH smiles say it all.

Congratulations Bulldogs! Cheers!

Focus: Falling for Sun-Drenched River Time

Sunny days and Mondays are a great way to start the week — especially in the fall with some river time in Rumson tossed in.

With river time, along the Navesink River, it’s all about warmth. Soaking up the sun while getting a soothing embrace from the river is the coziest it gets. Always a homecoming.

There’s nothing like the soul taking a dip in the sun-drenched riverfront. Falling for it all on a fall day. Never shaking off an ounce of its healing power. Taking it in, holding it for a lifetime.

There are more sunny fall river days to come this week. Take a look at the forecast from the National Weather Service

Prosecutor: 69-Year-Old Man Charged in September Arson of $1M Worth of Commercial Vehicles

A 69-year-old Ocean County man has been arrested and charged with the September arson of a group of commercial vehicles belonging to a local business in Wall Township, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Thursday.

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Retro Sandy-Ravaged Donovan’s ‘DO’

People walk the sea wall by Donovan's Reef in Sea Bright after Sandy, checking out what's left of the iconic spot. Photo/Elaine Van Develde
People walk the sea wall by Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright after Sandy, checking out what’s left of the iconic spot.
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

It was 10 years ago that the havoc wreaked by Superstorm Sandy left monumental wreckage in its wake in Sea Bright.

Once the ghost-town kind of calm settled in after the storm, people flocked from all over to witness the devastating damage done first hand.

One iconic spot that Sandy decimated, hoisting up its buildings and fiercely slamming them down onto twisted tar, was Sea Bright’s Donovan’s Reef.

Continue reading Retro Sandy-Ravaged Donovan’s ‘DO’

Focus: Halloween Decoration Drive-By

Halloween is in the air — and on lawns — in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

All you have to do is take a drive to get into the spirit — or crash into a few out of amazement, shock or fright. Do try this at home. Just leave the crashing part out and take in the sights of the creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and altogether ooky decorations around the towns, as the Addams Family title song says.

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Focus: Celebrating Fair Haven History in a Pastor’s Retirement

“If you’re gonna worry, don’t pray. And if you’re gonna pray, don’t worry.”

Following his own advice, Fair Haven Fisk Chapel A.M.E. Church Rev. Thomas Johnson will tell you that he never did much worrying. In fact, if you you’ve ever even known him for a minute, you likely haven’t seen a scowl or worried furrow on his brow. Just a bright smile that speaks self-proclaimed countless blessings.

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Retro Fair Haven Classroom Halloween Classic

Halloween in Fair Haven’s Sickles School in 1985
Photo/Kathy Robbins

It’s cool to be a good ghoul in school, right?

Wait. Is that a lobster raising its claw to answer the teacher? Why, yes, it is. The teacher is unfazed. But the lesson? Well, it seems that this day in a Fair Haven 1980s classroom is all about costumes and little to nothing about reading, writing and ‘rithmetic.

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