Category Archives: Opinion

Editorials, letters to the editor and other articles reflecting on iconic people, places and traditions related to them in the area.

Local Life, Opinion

Old News: Political Street Fight, Drunk on ‘Hootch,’ Hallowe’en Hoopla, Hay, Dunking & Fiery Mischief

Woolworth’s Halloween costume ad of 1975/Red Bank Register

Sometimes you just have to live a little … in the past. It’s an eye-opening, or stabbing, thing. Nothing wrong with a clearer view or jab. When it’s spooky season — with Halloween and politics rolled into one big scare or thrill — it’s all the more fun, insightful and inspiring to take a little glimpse back. Boo! Live a little …. in the past, this scary old dinosaur says.

Oh, you’ve heard it. When someone is told they’re living in the past, it’s usually considered somewhat of an insult. It implies that the person is paralyzed, incapable of moving forward. Not always true, especially when it comes to old news that educates, stimulates, gives a greater perspective of the present or is just plain fun to revisit.

Continue reading Old News: Political Street Fight, Drunk on ‘Hootch,’ Hallowe’en Hoopla, Hay, Dunking & Fiery Mischief →
Local Life, Opinion

Reflection: Retro Halloween Parading

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The following opinion piece on Halloween through the generations in Fair Haven was originally published in 2015. It is reprised annually … 

The Fair Haven Halloween Parade passed by last weekend. Missed it! But, as always, this senior-aged (OUCH) kid from Fair Haven has some parading memories on which to reflect. Remember this scene?

It’s a longstanding tradition — the Fair Haven Halloween Parade.

I remember it well — from my first parade trek back in the late 1960s to the ’70s, 80s, 90s and now.

It all started at age 7 with a wish to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. I’ve noticed a few in more recent years and the green-eyed jealousy monster of a near senior has reared its head. But I digress … That little dress-up fantasy of the 60s of mine was foiled when my mother couldn’t get the gingham outfit together, my pigtails were not so poised for the silver screen look and my sister refused to crawl down Hance Road as Toto.

I guess it was bad enough that from the age of 3, she was forced by this pint-sized dominatrix 5-year-old Dorothy to crawl on a makeshift Funk and Wagnall’s encyclopedia Yellow Brick Road to Oz in the living room. The neighbors never quite got over it, either.

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Local Life, News, Opinion

Grow with Grace: Tomato Canning — A Romance

Relationship Status: It’s Complicated

Preserving what you love doesn’t have to be complicated. But sometimes it is.

The six little seeds I started last March grew into 41 pounds of organic, backyard tomatoes. There are only two things that money can’t buy, and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes. Enjoying them both sometimes takes a little effort.

Let’s dig in!

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Local Life, Opinion

Grow with Grace: Composting for Fall Garden and Earth’s Sake

For people like me who love fall gardening, the season is just beginning. Even if you’ve decided not to plant this fall, many summer vegetables have run their course. If your garden is anything like mine, you may find yourself removing an increasing number of plants every week.

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Opinion

9/11: Day’s End Reflection, 25 Years Later

The following piece is published annually on 9/11 as a testament to never forgetting … 

It was a beautiful Tuesday. The sun was smiling with a crisp warmth. The air was a snappy fresh. The coffee even tasted especially good.

I remember. Most of us remember where we were on Sept. 11, 2001 at 8:46 a.m.. I know I do. I also remember how everything went from bright, crisp, fragrant and optimistic to dark, dank, acrid and terrifying in one second. I remember how it wasn’t about us observers, storytellers. It was about them — the victims, their loved ones, their message.

For me, a professional observer, a professional storyteller, thankfully close enough, yet far enough, yes, it was so very much about them — painfully so. I wasn’t one of them. I was lucky. I was grateful. I sought the bare honesty in the moments. I watched. They shared. I listened intently. I reported.

I was a journalist living in Fair Haven and covering Middletown for the Independent, Greater Media Newspapers. On what started out as a typical day, those victims of 9/11 and the people of Middletown manning the chaos and being the helpers ended up unwittingly, graciously, lighting a less traveled path for me. For many.

It’s this one storyteller’s perspective.

Through this one fortunate observer’s eyes and heart, it went like this …

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Local Life, Opinion

Retro Back-to-School Walking the Rope

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Photo/Sally Van Develde for R-FH Retro ONLY

Our annual back-to-school Fair Haven rope walk reprise …

“But I don’t wanna walk on the rope next to her!” I cried from under my fresh-cut kindergarten bangs. “I wanna walk on the rope next to Pam!”

Pam was my neighbor. She was my best buddy.

It was 1965. It was the ’60s. The memories are there, but fuzzy. I can sill see it — with my reading glasses, of course. One thing’s for sure: Our Fair Haven kindergarten class was the last to have its first year of school at what was called the Youth Center, now the Fair Haven Police Station and Community Center on Fisk Street.

We kindergarteners were also the last to be tugged down the street on a rope, yes a rope, headed by an official-looking police-type lady.

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Local Life, Opinion

Retro Fair Haven Back-to-School Line-Up

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

A back-to-school reprise … 

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.

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Local Life, Opinion

Grow with Grace: Bugged Out and Relaxing with the Fruits of Garden Labor

After all the hot summer garden work—and before fall gardening really kicks into full swing—I’m off to parts north to snip a few plant samples for propagation and sip a few cocktails for relaxation. While I’m spending time in a beautiful place by the sea, the new school year is kicking off here in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

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Local Life, Opinion

Fair Remembrance: All’s Fair in the Middle

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Our annual reprise about what it really means to experience all that’s fair for a Fair Haven kid …

There are a lot of significant beginnings and endings this time of the year. The end of summer. The beginning of locals’ summer. The start of school — new chapters and first days.

But, what about the middle? The end of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair has always brought me, and many a “fair” kid, back to that middle haven. It’s home.

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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.

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Local Life, Opinion

Steeping in Fair Memories: Cooking Up Firemen’s Fair Goodness

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The following piece was originally published on Aug. 27, 2015. It’s fair time again, so it’s time to take a look back at how things were and are done a pivotal place at the fair — the kitchen and dining room.

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.

Mike Connor and John Riley get ready to start another fair night 2024
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Continue reading Steeping in Fair Memories: Cooking Up Firemen’s Fair Goodness →