There have been a lot of significant beginnings and endings lately. 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 brings me, and probably more than a few others, back to that middle.
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. 31, 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 later at the fair …
By Elaine Van Develde
It’s been 36 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 Remembrance of the Fair Stock Room Dude — Dad
It’s something to steep in … the thought of any sort of Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair food. Many do all fair week long.
Continue reading Retro Fair Take-OutCall it a fair beginning. The end of the summer signals the start of The Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair — more than a century’s worth of big tradition in the small peninsula borough.
Continue reading Focus: A Fair Start in Fair Haven
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 A Fair Haven Girl’s Fair Haunt
It all started with a misbegotten box of bad muffin mix.
A customer wanted Tavolo Pronto’s Patti Balderas to whip him up some gluten-free muffins for his morning visit to the Fair Haven stop back in 2010.
Continue reading I’ll Just Pick: Sweet Tavolo Gluten-Free
Summertime is reunion time for all good Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School alumnus. This weekend it’s the RFH Class of ’79’s turn to turn back time four decades.
Continue reading RFH Reunion Time: Retro Fair Haven Class ActThe following June criminal incidents and arrests were reported by Fair Haven police. An arrest does not constitute a conviction.
Continue reading Fair Haven Police Report: Fraud, Criminal Mischief, Marijuana Possession, Dog Bite
In the wake of a Fair Haven Fire Department award and reflection on the bond among its members through generations, thoughts turn to times when the bonds were forged.
Continue reading Retro FH Fire Company Family Time
It’s been a steamy summer. One hot Fair Haven summer event was a short-lived one for this seasonal reason, because it was, let’s say, too hot to handle. That would be the summer campout. It’s been moved to the fall.
Continue reading Retro Happy Fair Haven Campers
Not everyone at Monmouth County Fair knew, but one little snapshot last week encapsulated not only a win, but generations’ worth of Fair Haven Fire Department (FHFD) tradition.
Continue reading Scene Around: The FHFD Prize Ride
It’s not every day that a third-generation Fair Havenite gets sworn into neighboring Rumson’s police department and proposes to his fiancé in Sea Bright. No, just Tuesday.
Continue reading Scene Around: An Officer and a Proposal
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