Tag Archives: Fair Haven

A Retro Happy Thanksgiving from the Kids’ Table

Thanksgiving at the kids' table in the 1960s with Kate and Ben Hamilton Photo/Hamilton family
Thanksgiving at the kids’ table in the 1960s with Kate and Ben Hamilton
Photo/Hamilton family

Our annual Thanksgiving tribute to the kids’ table … Remember that? Happy Thanksgiving, all! Stay safe. Stay healthy. Enjoy!

It’s Thanksgiving, and, yes, it’s all about giving thanks.

So, the Retro Pic of the Day is an ode to just that.

It’s a snapshot back in time to the 1960s with a sibling duo from Fair Haven — Ben and Kate Hamilton. Ben passed away and Kate had posted this picture on Facebook giving thanks for him. RIP, Ben.

The photo brings back memories of the era the kids’ holiday table. Remember that one?

Continue reading A Retro Happy Thanksgiving from the Kids’ Table

An R-FH Area Veterans’ Homage

Our annual Veterans Day tribute (Click one of the photos in the above gallery to enlarge and scroll.)

Their faces are the faces at the core of a close-knit community. Some have passed. Some are still with us. They are cherished. They are veterans.

They were and are neighbors, dads, and just plain friendly faces around the Rumson-Fair Haven area towns.

They served. They fought for freedom.

They lived and still do live their lives with hometown pride, honor and respect. They were, they are founding fathers, friends. They were, they are cornerstones of the sense of community that is the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

The gift of their legacies bears no upscale real estate market value. They passed along a love of country and community that is priceless.

Thank you, on Veterans Day, to the veterans of the area who have passed and those who are still with us. You are cherished, honored.

Take a look at some of their faces and remember the legacy they carry.

— Elaine Van Develde

— Photos, courtesy of families of the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

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Tight Fair Haven Council Race Shows Split-Ticket Victory

The unofficial election results are in; and, after what turned out to be a very tight race for two Fair Haven Borough Council seats, it looks like party tickets split, seating one Democrat and one Republican on the governing body dais, unless yet-to-be-counted provisional, mail-in and cure letter ballots change that.

Continue reading Tight Fair Haven Council Race Shows Split-Ticket Victory

The 2025 Fair Haven and Rumson Local Government Election FYI

As people go to the polls to vote in Rumson and Fair Haven on Tuesday, or even if votes have already been cast, there are some facts about the boroughs’ governing bodies and their function and history that may have eluded many.

So, the notion in mind that an informed voter is a better voter, early voting or not, here are some local government facts that may enlighten and inspire:

Rumson and Fair Haven are both run under what is dubbed the Borough form of municipal government in New Jersey. There are several forms. While it may seem like a given that since Fair Haven and Rumson are both boroughs, the form of government follows suit with that name. It’s not.

Continue reading The 2025 Fair Haven and Rumson Local Government Election FYI

Reflection: Retro Halloween Parading

The following opinion piece on Halloween through the generations in Fair Haven was originally published in 2015. It is reprised annually … 

The Fair Haven Halloween Parade passed by last weekend. Missed it! But, as always, this senior-aged (OUCH) kid from Fair Haven has some parading memories on which to reflect. Remember this scene?

It’s a longstanding tradition — the Fair Haven Halloween Parade.

I remember it well — from my first parade trek back in the late 1960s to the ’70s, 80s, 90s and now.

It all started at age 7 with a wish to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. I’ve noticed a few in more recent years and the green-eyed jealousy monster of a near senior has reared its head. But I digress … That little dress-up fantasy of the 60s of mine was foiled when my mother couldn’t get the gingham outfit together, my pigtails were not so poised for the silver screen look and my sister refused to crawl down Hance Road as Toto.

I guess it was bad enough that from the age of 3, she was forced by this pint-sized dominatrix 5-year-old Dorothy to crawl on a makeshift Funk and Wagnall’s encyclopedia Yellow Brick Road to Oz in the living room. The neighbors never quite got over it, either.

Continue reading Reflection: Retro Halloween Parading

Retro Halloween Classroom Classic

Halloween in Fair Haven’s Sickles School in 1985
Photo/Kathy Robbins

It’s cool to be a ghoul in school, right?

Wait. Is that a lobster raising its claw to answer the teacher? Why, yes, it is. The teacher is unfazed. But the lesson? Well, it seems that this day in a Fair Haven 1980s classroom is all about costumes and little to nothing about reading, writing and ‘rithmetic.

Continue reading Retro Halloween Classroom Classic