It’s that time for firemen in the state of New Jersey — time to gather and go a little wild in Wildwood at the annual NJ Firemen’s Convention.
Continue reading Retro Firemen Getting Wild in Wildwood
On the cusp of Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair, thoughts turn to the longtime members of the fire company who have made it happen every single year for more than a century.
Continue reading Retro Fair Haven Fire Company Picnic Pack Fun
Call it luck for some that the smallest of moments carry a ton of weight that embodies a world of light — community light.
Let me tell you about it, with a light heart full of gratitude … The last time I saw forever Fair Havenite and fireman Jim Butler was at his near lifelong friend’s funeral. That was last May.
Continue reading Remembering Fair Haven’s Jim Butler: The Light Weight in Community Family Matters
A reprise Retro Pic of the Day in honor of Fair Haven Fire Department’s Old Timers’ Day on Sunday. Now, back to the 1960s with the annual FHFD tradition, now that new back then has turned into old …
Nothing says community spirit like a face full of dirt and smashed eggs on your Sunday casual best. Well, nothing like Fair Haven Fire Department’s (FHFD) Old Timers’ Day, anyway. Add to that the fact that the young ones from back in the day are now the old timers and the losers … of the traditional baseball game that is the day’s focal point.
Continue reading Retro Old Timers’ Day Tripping
It was a banner weekend for the Fair Haven Fire Department.
The forever Fair Haven group of volunteer firefighters, first aid tenders and auxiliary helpers swept some awards at another company’s 150th anniversary on Saturday and the next day celebrated the old and new with its traditional Old Timers’ Day.
Fair Haven, with it’s unique white trucks, has always stood out at parades and celebrations. This past weekend it was at Freehold Fire Department’s 150th anniversary that the department shone bright with its sharp, gleaming white apparatus and membership.
The department garnered first-place awards for: Most Active Members Present; Best Appearing Command Vehicle; Best Appearing Pumper 6-15 Years; Best Appearing Ambulance; and Best Appearing Rescue (light or heavy). A second-place award was won for Best Appearing Motorized Antique.
Congratulations, FHFD!
Then, on Sunday, the crew gathered to celebrate fire company tradition with a blend of generations, the old and new, in Old Timers’ Day. This gathering of all that’s good in connecting through volunteering and friendship for the community is a tradition that dates way back.
There are casual contests, fun, food and fire department family bonding. This fire company kid vividly remembers a tug of war and egg toss miserably lost. There may have been a two-legged race with sister tossed in the failures somewhere. Yet, everyone wins with this fire company day.
Take a look at the above photos, courtesy of the FHFD, for a glimpse into the win and Old Timers’ Day Gathering. (Click on one to enlarge and scroll.) Cheers to FHFD tradition! And, who won the egg toss?
Here stays the neighborhood. Yes. For the love of home, we’re always steeping in it.
Even though another forever Fair Haven neighbor is now gone, the neighborhood stays, as always — right in that hometown heart. The one that swells with a different kind of pride and comfort that some unlucky souls will never understand.
That neighbor, the latest who has left the block, is Jane Croft. Born in Fair Haven, she lived her entire life there, always with that easy-going smile and soothing, welcoming cadence in her voice.
Continue reading The Neighborhood: Steeping in Love of Home to Honor Jane CroftOur now annual reprise honoring the inspiration for R-FH Retro — my mom, Sally Van Develde — on what would have been her 99th birthday. A birthday wish … Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom. You remain in the hearts of so many … Besides, I won’t let them forget.
“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?” ~ Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
For the love of home and a Fair Haven mom … that’s right.
Sometimes a birthday without her is about lighting the candles, making the wish, sustaining the simple legacy of going home, staying home with my mom, Sally Van Develde.
Today would have been her 99th birthday. If she had lived to blow out all those candles on her cake, I wondered what she would have done. What her wish would have been.
Continue reading Staying Home with My ‘Fair’ Lady on Her Birthday
A reprise in honor of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair coming back to town after a COVID-19 pandemic unheard-of hiatus last year. There used to be a prize boat at one time. Then there was a car. Now there’s the Super 50/50; and, in another altered tradition, tickets are on sale now, in advance of the fair’s comeback in a couple of weeks.
Summer heat’s on and the fair in all of it’s area coolness is coming back. What a prize! Right?
Speaking of prizes, we take you back to this reprise sequel of those firehouse girls-on-the-boat photos for a tidbit about fair winnings and reminder that the grand prize of all prizes, the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair is on its way back.
Continue reading Retro Fair Haven Gals and a Fair Prize Boat
It’s the heart of summer. And with summertime in the Rumson-Fair Haven area comes a tsunami of waterborne activity.
It’s the peninsula way of life. Always has been. And because of it, back in 1962, members of the Fair Haven Fire Department’s First Aid Squad created an underwater rescue team, as they referred to it. The team would exist for water rescue and recovery emergencies. It made sense.
Continue reading Retro R-FH Water Rescue Cruisin’
On the second year without Memorial Day parades in the Rumson-Fair Haven area, it’s a good time to remember a classic parading look of the past.
Continue reading Retro Classic Fair Haven Fire Company ParadingThere’s another centenarian in Fair Haven known to give 100 percent to its community.
The Fair Haven Fire Department Auxiliary, formerly the Ladies’ Auxiliary, turned 100 years old on March 21, making the volunteer organization just nine years younger than Fair Haven itself.
Continue reading Fair Haven’s New Centenarian: The Fire Department’s AuxiliaryLongtime Fair Havenite and area Fire Police volunteer William D. “Bill” Copeland passed away on April 1. He was 90.
Bill spent 26 years as a member of the Fair Haven Fire Depaertment’s Fire Police. He also served as a Rumson Fire Police member.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Fair Havenite, 26-Year Fire Police Member, Bill Copeland, 90
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