Local Life

Retro Rumson Renegades in the Park

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Kid congregation at Victory Park in the 1960s
Photo/courtesy of Ed Pomphrey, Rumson historical archives

It’s just plain campy! There’s nothing like a nice summer day replete with some bubble-blowing, power-posing, bathing suited, short-sporting kids on a mission to make some summer fun — at camp … or something like it.

It’s not certain that this is what this kid crew at Rumson’s Victory Park gazebo likely in the late 1960s is up to, but it’s a good bet. After all, they’re congregating in a central spot, a clipboard is involved here, there’s lots of antsy action and a few are looking like they’re trying to corral the unruly mass of summer kid mess with that akimbo hands-on-hips stance. It all says, “Listen up, raucous Rumson rug rats! We’ll get to the real fun when you guys stop blowing bubbles, wandering off and rabble rousing!” Something like that. The photo, after all, is worth at least a few hundred words.

On the other had, it could be an after-event or camp sort of round-up. Either way, it’s a round-up of the rowdy(ish) Rumson kid sort. The akimbo poser who’s center gazebo is Van Paulson, of the RFH Class of ’75, so some classmates had said when the photo was circulated by longtime Rumsonite Ed Pomphrey. Paulson, sadly, passed away nearly three years ago.

What he was thinking or saying to this group one can only imagine. And one does. One can also only imagine what, exactly, is going to happen when that bubble that girl is blowing with, no doubt, Bazooka or Double Bubble, pops either ends up stuck all over her face confiscated and replaced with tape. Those are the things leaders did back in the day, after all.

They were fearless. Fearless leaders. The kids were fearless, too.

No bursting that fantasy kid life bubble in Rumson. It was as real as it gets, gum and all.

Your favorite camp activity? Craft? How about those potholders? Or jewelry? OK, so most Rumsonites preferred tennis, boating or a good long dive off a short dock at the river. So, dive in and have some summer fun just like the kids of the ’60s did here. And keep your bubbles to yourself.