Category Archives: Opinion

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

Opinion

9/11: Day’s End Reflection, 23 Years Later

The following piece, with a few changes as time goes on, 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 fearful 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 watched. I listened intently. They shared.
 
I was a reporter living in Fair Haven and covering Middletown. On what started out as a typical day, they 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 …
Continue reading 9/11: Day’s End Reflection, 23 Years Later →
Local Life, Opinion

Retro School Daze: The Rope Lady

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A reprise in honor of those folks who used to be in charge of keeping the kids safe on their walk to school. Remember when everyone walked to school?

It was a time when kids had to walk the … rope.

The first day of school, last week, was commemorated with a look back to that first day in 1965 in Fair Haven.

It was the very first day of school — for kindergarteners. It was also a finale year. That class was the last of all that walked on a rope to the Youth Center (now Fair Haven Community Center downstairs and the police station upstairs).

While classmates were remembered, the identity of the official lady tugging that rope was not.

So, as an ode to that woman, who was eventually remembered as Mary McDaniel, the Retro Pic of the Day is another look, from the archives of the Red Bank Register, of that kindergarten class walk, headed by Mc Daniel.

Continue reading Retro School Daze: The Rope Lady →
Local Life, Opinion

Retro Back-to-School Walking the Rope

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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.

Continue reading Retro Back-to-School Walking the Rope →
Local Life, Opinion

Retro First Day of School Girls

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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.

Continue reading Retro First Day of School Girls →
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.

Continue reading Fair Remembrance: All’s Fair in the Middle →
Local Life, Opinion

Old News: Fair Firemen, 10-Cent Charlestons, Ponies, Carousels, Spin Art and Flying Geraldos

The Charleston, flying trapeze artists, the Zipper or not, the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair has been an end-of-summer tradition since its inception in 1921. Yes, some things never change — like the fair’s core of community legacy.

Yes, legacy. It’s a concept that those lacking a sense of community and connection in their souls just don’t get. Their loss. And it’s a big one.

Continue reading Old News: Fair Firemen, 10-Cent Charlestons, Ponies, Carousels, Spin Art and Flying Geraldos →
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 →
Local Life, Opinion

Retro Fair Candy Apple Daze

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Candy, Ray and Marion Bennett tend to the candy apples at the Fair Haven Firemen's Fair circa 1979 Photo/Fair Haven Fire Department Yearbook, courtesy of Evie Connor Kelly
Candy, Ray and Marion Bennett tend to the candy apples at the
Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair circa 1969
Photo/Fair Haven Fire Department Yearbook, courtesy of Evie Connor Kelly

It’s Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair time! With the fair, of course, comes goodies. Confections. Fair food. One favorite that hasn’t made a comeback is the candy apple. So, we look back and reminisce about a fair treat and tradition gone with this “back by popular demand” reprise and a little addition …

How do you like them apples? If the name fits, you know … And it did. She may not have been the actual boss lady of the booth, but perhaps we could call her the Big Dipper? I mean, who better to one of those at the helm the candy apple operation at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair than a woman named Candy — Candy Bennett?

The Retro Pic of the Day offers a glimpse back to fair days in 1969 with yet another fair family affair at another booth — the candy apple booth (a corner of the Outback, or what used to be called just the hot dog booth).

Continue reading Retro Fair Candy Apple Daze →
Local Life, Opinion

Fair Reflections: An Ode to Opening Night of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair

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Our annual reprise in celebration of opening night of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair … 

All’s fair. The night before. The decades later. It’s something a Fair Haven kid will always see … a shooting star that they grabbed and tucked away in their heart, holding onto the glistening, magical light.

The night is still. A light is on. Trucks are out of the bays. Cartoony faces and ghosts in empty seats on unassembled carnival rides stare back in the dark. Someone’s cooking at the Fair Haven firehouse. It’s fair time.

Continue reading Fair Reflections: An Ode to Opening Night of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair →

Obituaries, Opinion

Tim Cronin: A Rocker’s Legacy of Connection & the Life Celebration to Come

Gathering for Tim Cronin on June 22
Photo/Susan Culbert

It was just over two weeks ago that a capacity crowd gathered at The Whitechapel Projects in Long Branch to honor 63-year-old iconic rocker Tim Cronin, of Ribeye Brothers, Monster Magnet and Jack’s Music Shoppe fame, and raise funds to help ease any hardships in his battle with ALS.

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Opinion, Regional Interest

NJ Turns the Tide with Innovative Coastal Sediment Strategy  

Dredge vessel at Squan Inlet
Photo/Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute

An collaborative opinion piece from Tony MacDonald, director of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute and Dr. Barbara Brummer, state director of The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey …

As New Jersey’s coastal communities prepare for summer boating and hurricane season, a unique public-private partnership is advancing a smart, sustainable approach to protecting our coast.

Continue reading NJ Turns the Tide with Innovative Coastal Sediment Strategy   →
Local Life, Opinion

Retro RFH Girls’ Summer Ride

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RFH girls' ride into the summer of '78 ... Stephanie DeSesa, Elaine Van Develde, Debbie Humbert and Daryl Cooper Ley Photo/Elaine Van Develde
RFH girls’ ride into the summer of ’78 … Stephanie DeSesa, Elaine Van Develde, Debbie Humbert and Daryl Cooper Ley
Photo/Suzan Cooper

Sun up! When you’re scorched from a heatwave like this week’s, it’s time to let the sun bring on warm memories instead. There’s nothing quite like a summer drive in a classic car with the top down, especially when it’s the summer of senior year. So, we’re re-running this piece just because the sun needs to shine on friendships and good times like these. There’s nothing quite as warm. Put the top down and take a drive back with us again … 

The drive is all the better if it’s made with best friends. So, as a continuing ode to summer fun of the past at the hands of RFH teens, the Retro Pic of the Day encapsulates the whole idea — best friends, a cool ride and warm memories.

Continue reading Retro RFH Girls’ Summer Ride →