Post-Memorial Day week is what used to be a longtime tradition of Fair Haven sixth graders taking that trip to Stokes State Forrest. The time of the year has since been switched to fall. So, in honor of the original timing of this rite-of-passage trip to Stokes, we, again, invite you to take a trip back with us. Remember?

It’s that time of the year when Fair Haven schools tradition used to take hold and all good Knollwood sixth graders packed it in and went on their trip to Stokes State Forrest. The buses rolled out of town right after Memorial Day. It’s now been more than 50 years’ worth of Stokes adventuring. Wow.

The holding of class in the great outdoors from that Tuesday after Memorial Day through Friday was a mainstay seemingly since the dawn of time. And though the timing has changed, the mission of the trip has not.

Students explore and learn, tutored and supervised by parents and teachers. They leave, sleeping bags in tow, on a couple of buses early Tuesday morning. They arrive, after about 100 rounds of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” (OK, maybe not anymore, but in the ’70s, anyway), in a mass dump of untamed spirits into the wilderness.

They bunk in cabins, eat Sloppy Joes and other tasty slop in a mess hall, wake to trumpeting, swim in the lake, canoe, learn a little more, explore a little more, get lost in the woods at the hands of some well-meaning, compass-illiterate parent running the pathfinder class, sing Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley (I know, uplifting) and tell stories about the Jersey Devil — well, at least they used to. And, since kids are, well, kids, they play pranks on one another — ahem … at least they used to.

There was that time when the flag was raised for the morning Pledge of Allegiance and everyone ended up saluting not only the flag, but someone’s underwear.

But, I digress …

So, in ode to times of a lifetime in Fair Haven, the Retro Pic of the Day, courtesy of former Fair Havenite Peter Mauger, is a salute to pre-teen pranksters and the Stokes experience.

Recognize anyone? What do you think they were up to? Favorite Stokes prank? Hang down your head and remember with us!

Send us your old Stokes pics! Email them to evd@rfhretro.com!

— Elaine Van Develde

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