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 MiddleSummer is wrapping up at the Jersey Shore with two DWI checkpoints over the Labor Day weekend in Monmouth County, starting tonight, Friday, the Monmouth County DWI Task Force announced.
Continue reading DWI Checkpoints Set for Labor Day Weekend The following piece was originally published on Aug. 31, 2015. It is being re-run, with changes only in the amount of years that have passed, in memory of my father, Bill Van Develde, former longtime Fair Haven Fire Company member, president and captain of the Fire Police and chairman of the Stock Room at the fair, on the anniversary of his death on Aug. 30, 1983. RIP, Dad. You are missed. Thank you for all the embarrassing moments that I didn’t appreciate enough. Thank you for making Fair Haven my home. Thank you for being a real dad. See you on the fair grounds …
By Elaine Van Develde
It’s been 41 years, but I can still see his face and that kooky Brylcreemed hairdo. I can still hear his crazy belly laugh and that signature “Take ‘er easy, buddy!” I can still see him slapping kids on the back, forever clutching his trusty clipboard, pencil perched behind his ear, sweat on the brow and finger wagging.
Continue reading Remembering My Fair DaddyRed Bank resident Susan Johnson passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family, “after a hard- fought, courageous battle with cancer.” She was 67.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Red Bank Resident Susan Johnson, 67 
Reprise in honor of Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair week and Firemen’s Night, or Firefighters’ Night, which was last night …
Well, the fair is on and nothing has stopped it yet.
A tradition within the fair tradition is Firemen’s Night. Fire departments from across the state flock to the fair, most with reps riding into town on their towns’ fire trucks. It happens annually on Wednesday night of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.
So, the Retro Pic of the Day offers a glimpse into Firemen’s Night 2015 with a photo of guys and gals from the neighboring Rumson Fire Department.
A big thank you to all our volunteer firefighters.
Recognize anyone in this crew? Have you thanked a firefighter today?
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It’s that night of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair that’s a gleaming, blaring, whirling truck-loving kid’s dream. It’s Firefighters’ Night; and it was last night at the fair.
Continue reading Focus: A Fair Firefighters’ Night Longtime Rumsonite Florence Bainton, more recently of Little Silver, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Aug. 24. She was 95.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Longtime Rumsonite Florence Bainton, 95 Longtime Red Bank resident, Angela ” Angie” Figaro, passed away on Saturday Aug. 24, in Red Bank with her loving nieces and nephew at her bedside. She was 89.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Longtime Red Bank Resident, RBR ’52 Grad, Angie Figaro, 89 
Sometimes you just have to leave things up to chance. And there’s nothing better to personify that notion than a moment at what was the Grab Bag Booth at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.
Continue reading Retro Fair Grab Bagging ’60s-Style 
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.
Red Bank native and Mustillo’s owner, Lois Caivano, more recently of Shrewsbury, passed away peacefully at home on Friday, Aug. 23, with her loving family by her side. She was 90.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Red Bank native and Mustillo’s Owner, Lois Caivano, 90 
All’s fair — at least for Rumson-Fair Haven area folks. It’s Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair week, after all.
Continue reading Focus: Fair Riding, Gaming and Fraternizing 
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