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Local Life

Focus: Sea Bright Sunrise on Locals’ Summer

A Sea Bright beach stroll at sunrise
Photo/Jo Ann Slocum Mazzucca

That new day has dawned. It’s officially locals’ summertime in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

Call it that back-to-school nap time respite for the Jersey Shore kid in all. Pull out the mat and hit the beach time. Inhale the scene’s solace. Exhale the power in its beauty.

The return of some solitude and quiet savoring of the sunrise on a pristine beach in Sea Bright encapsulates the mood. After a flurry of a Labor Day weekend, down came the rain and washed the bustle away.

Up came the sun … and dried up all the crowd overload. Ahhhhh …

Welcome, locals’ summer!

The sun has risen for the inaugural locals’ weekend. Here’s the weather forecast for the Rumson-Fair Haven area from the National Weather Service …

** Thanks to RFHer and Rumson-raised Jo Ann Slocum Mazzucca for this glimpse into a mesmerizing sunrise in Sea Bright. Oh, and that’s her husband in the solo walk shot. **

Sunrise in Sea Bright
Photo/Jo Ann Slocum Mazzucca
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Local Life, Opinion

Retro Back-to-School Neighborhood Line-Up

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First day of kindergarten in Fair Haven 1965
Photo/Sally Van Develde

A back-to-school reprise dedicated to everyone’s first friend on that first day of school as a kindergartener. My first friend and neighbor in Fair Haven was Pam Young (second from right), who passed away in July of 2020 … Everyone can relate. Go back with us. Remember your first day of school and that first friend …

Knock-kneed, nervous and all dressed up with somewhere to go, this gaggle Fair Haven neighborhood girls of 1965 lined up so their moms could get that classic first-day-of-kindergarten shot. And there wasn’t a smile among them.

Continue reading Retro Back-to-School Neighborhood Line-Up →
Local Life

Focus: Fair Reunions, Faces & Places

Well, that’s a wrap for the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair 2022.

The tradition holds strong. The fair was, as always, a midway full of fun, food, festivities, reunions and camaraderie, holding true to the sentiment that all’s fair and always has been, for more than a century in Fair Haven at fair time.

Take a look at the photo gallery below for a glimpse into those moments — the reunions, faces and places — that make the Fair Haven Fireman’s Fair a microcosm of the fairest of all in Fair Haven those eight days signaling the end of summer. (Be sure to CLICK on one photo in the photo mosaic below to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)

Local Life, Opinion

Retro Fair Sweets Queens

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Millie Felsmann making cotton candy at the Fair Haven Firemen's Fair circa early 1990s Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Millie Felsmann making cotton candy at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair circa early 1990s
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Millie Felsmann and her candy apples back in the 1960s Photo/courtesy of Monica Felsmann
Millie Felsmann and her candy apples back in the 1960s
Photo/courtesy of Monica Felsmann

This Retro Pic(s) of the Day story was originally published on Aug. 25, 2015. It is being run again in honor of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair and the Felsmann family to honor them in light of their recent loss of Millie Felsmann’s son, John, or “Smokey,” husband to Trudy and dad to his fair-raised children. He didn’t like getting his picture taken, so we will respect that and honor him via his family. This is how they concoct and serve up those sweets at the fair … 

When it came to cotton candy — that fluffy spun light blue and pink sugar on a cone that melts in your mouth, on your mouth and many times on your hands, too — Millie Felsmann was the pro at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.

Don’t get us wrong, here. We know that Millie also commandeered the candy apple making. Yes, Candy Bennett was there, too — for many hours a day, making and selling those candy apples, apropos name and all.

Well, she was, after all, Candy, the candy apple lady. Yes, Candy had a lot do do with those candy apples — but Millie was the boss. She, along with her troupe of kids and Candy, Betty Acker and Mrs. Frank, started work on those apples as early as 6 a.m.. And, even further back, to 1965 or 66, Mrs. Topfer made those apples, too.

Continue reading Retro Fair Sweets Queens →
Local Life, Opinion

Retro Fair Grab Bagging Balloon Lady & Buds

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Sally Van Develde selling balloons at the Fair Haven Firemen's Fair Grab Bag Booth
Sally Van Develde selling balloons at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair Grab Bag Booth
Photo/FHFD

For decades there was what was referred to as The Grab Bag Booth at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair. The booth was there for kids to get consolation prizes, featuring, of course, real brown paper grab bags full of goodies, that parents could buy if they didn’t win at the wheel games of chance. And there were balloons … and some fair ladies to keep the fair goodness going strong.

The Grab Bag Booth is now gone from the midway. At one point, for many years, my mom, Sally Van Develde was the chairwoman of the booth. This piece is an annual reprise to honor the booth’s goodness, the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair and those things that never disappear like helium balloons into the dark sky … Memories of a special lady — my mom.

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.

Continue reading Retro Fair Grab Bagging Balloon Lady & Buds →
Local Life

Focus: Fair Opening Faces & Moments

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All was fair for sure as the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair opened this past weekend.

This summer marked the first time since pandemic times that there was a full return to fair normalcy with the reopening of the famous dining room and full-on fair sit-down feasting service.

Most of all, there was feasting on full-on fun, tradition and reuniting. That’s because all’s always fair at the end of the summer in Fair Haven.

Take a look at the photo slideshow and photo gallery below to get a glimpse into those fair opening moments … (Click on one photo in the gallery to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)

— Photos/courtesy of Fair Haven Fire Department Media

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Local Life

Scene Around: Fair Haven Baby Celebrity Jam

Fair Haven’s Ruby Dowling was showcased for her first birthday on the TODAY Show for Smucker’s
Photo/Sceeenshot of TV

It’s pretty sweet and it’s her mom’s jam. But now one little Fair Haven girl is a bit of a celebrity stuck in that joyous birthday jam. And she’s all smiles and clueless about the fame.

Continue reading Scene Around: Fair Haven Baby Celebrity Jam →
Local Life

Scene Around: Fishing for Summer Fun & Education

They went fishing for a fun day and reeled in the biggest of catches — a fun, educational day.

On Wednesday, Aug. 10, Immediate Care Medical Walk-In hosted its 7th Annual Kids Fishing Trip.

About 60 children and adults from community organizations Father Time, Frances Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monmouth and Middlesex County enjoyed a day of fishing at the Immediate Care Walk-In of Red Bank’s 7th Annual Kids’ Fishing Trip.

A 75-foot charter boat left out of Atlantic Highlands guided by Captain Mike and deckhands, Dee, Zack, and Sissy.

During the excursion, the Immediate Care team showed the kids how to bait their rods, cast and reel in when they got a bite. Members of American Littoral Society, the environmental group headquartered at Sandy Hook, also joined the event to teach the children about the different species of fish and which are tagged and returned to sea due to size.

There was breakfast and lunch at sea and a day full of fluke fishing, learning, fun, prizes and gifts.

— Photos/Immediate Care

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Local Life

Simple Summer: Jazzing it Up in the Park

There’s nothing simpler or more fun than some sweet summertime dancing to the beat of a band in a park — or your own drummer, for that matter.

It’s all golden summer fun when there’s a little dancing to the ever-so-popular band Line Drive at Jazz in the Park in Red Bank. And last Thursday night there was dancing, a lot of it spearheaded by one person literally doing the dancing to the beat of her own drummer, actually. That would be Lucille LoSapio (center in the featured photo) who was literally dancing to the beat of her own drummer — her husband, Gary Dates, longtime drummer with Line Drive.

Line Drive is in revival mode and playing all over the place again. Aside from some other dancing divas in the park, there was one who got a special birthday serenade. That would be the Red Bank Recreation girl at the entrance. Know her? She got the crowd spirited from the start at the entrance.

Jose Loo, Line Drive’s forever lead vocalist, now also on the keyboard, sang to the birthday girl (appropriately vested for the job) and the crowd joined in.

Solid gold? Why, yes, all that jazzy dancing, easy listening and riverfront scenery sure is. No need to complicate the simplest of summer spendor in a day when you could be dancing … yeah!

Take a look at the above photo gallery for a glimpse into the Jazz in the Park fun. (CLICK on one photo to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)

Jazz in the Park at Riverside Garden Park on Front Street in Red Bank will feature the Stephane Wremble Trio this Thursday from 7 to 8:30 p.m.. Line Drive will be appearing at Triumph Brewing in Red Bank on Friday. Click here for more on Line Drive updates.