Tag Archives: feature

Fair Remembrance: The Fair Art of Candy Apple Making, Cotton Candy Spinning & Ice Cream

This Retro Pic(s) of the Day story was originally published on Aug. 25, 2015. It is being run again in honor of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair, which would have been running this week. On a historic summer without the fair, we remember how some fair traditions got started, like lost fair art of candy apple making, waffle ice cream sandwiches. Then there’s the art of spinning cotton candy, something that was formerly mastered and commandeered by the late Millie Felsmann, also the champ of candy apple making. This is how they did it and continue to do it at the fair … Until we meet again at the Out Back in 2021 …

When it came to cotton candy — that fluffy spun light blue and pink sugar on a cone that melts in your mouth, on your mouth and many times on your hands, too — Millie Felsmann was the pro at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.

Don’t get us wrong, here. We know that Millie also commandeered the candy apple making. Yes, Candy Bennett was there, too — for many hours a day, making and selling those candy apples, apropos name and all. And, in another Retro Pic of the Day from 2015, we touted her as the candy apple lady.

Well, she was — she was Candy, the candy apple lady. Yes, Candy had a lot do do with those candy apples — but Millie was the boss. She, along with her troupe of kids and Candy, Betty Acker and Mrs. Frank, started work on those apples as early as 6:30 a.m.. And, even further back, to 1965 or 66, Mrs. Topfer made those apples, too.

Continue reading Fair Remembrance: The Fair Art of Candy Apple Making, Cotton Candy Spinning & Ice Cream

Fair Remembrance: Food To Go Now & Then

It’s something to steep in … the thought of any sort of Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair food. Many do all fair week long. This year the steeping is limited to visions of fried seafood combo, steamers and clam chowder dancing in their heads. They’re the kind of dreams a seasoned fair goer needs to dive into.

Continue reading Fair Remembrance: Food To Go Now & Then

Fair Remembrance: Ode to Opening Night of The Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair

The bustle is hushed. The night remains still at the firehouse grounds. Trucks are in their place. There are no empty carnival rides, no tents, no fresh, sweet scents of cotton candy and fried fish wafting through the air. No one is cooking in the kitchen. All is quiet. Lights are out. A beacon in the mind’s eye casts shadows of decades before. The ghosts are all there, snuggled together on their grounds. They still came home. They are everywhere as we remember opening night of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair, which would have been this Friday BB, on a historic year without the fair ...

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 Fair Remembrance: Ode to Opening Night of The Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair

Retro RFH Class of ‘73 Silver Reunion Posers

RFH Class of ‘73 25th reunion … Photo/RFH Class of ‘73 reunion archives


As RFH reunions go, there are always milestone reunion years, just like with wedding anniversaries. And RFHers tend to make those banner years quite festive. A good party is something for which RFHers are famed, after all. After the 10th, the next biggie is usually the 25th, not that there aren’t many in between. Can’t keep RFHers apart for more than five years.

Continue reading Retro RFH Class of ‘73 Silver Reunion Posers

R-FH Area Weekly Snapshot: Looking Back & Ahead, Weather, Tides, COVID & Pics

When the rain clears and the sun shines, shadows are cast. They offer a perspective of what’s behind, ahead and sometimes the view from beneath the surface. So, that in mind, we take a look back at last week, what’s to come this week and a little peek from beneath the surface in news, features and photos from under the Fair Haven Dock.

Continue reading R-FH Area Weekly Snapshot: Looking Back & Ahead, Weather, Tides, COVID & Pics

Retro River Ratting II

River Rats of the 1970s
Photo/Marc Edelman

A reprise, just because … the river is a time-honored hangout spot, great for what ails a kid or adult mid-pandemic, plenty of room to distance, and now with a possible threat of sharks. No murder hornets sighted yet … Remember the simpler times of close river encounters? The best of kids’ stuff …

It’s Friday, have you hung out with your River Rats this week?

It’s that longtime rat pack with which kids sail away the summer — River Rats.

Summers, since 1955, a group gathers at the end of Battin Road in Fair Haven to learn how to sail and bond. You’ve gotten a glimpse into those summer days down by the river with the good rats before.

This is yet another, more expansive shot.

It’s the Retro Pic of the Day circa 1970s; and it’s brought to us by RFH grad Marc Edelman.

Recognize anyone? Not in it? Rats!