Tag Archives: Retro Pic of the Day

Local Life

Retro Dank Daze of RFH Junior Lounging

Image
Lounging in the RFH Junior Lounge circa late 1970s.
Photo/George Day

A reprise from 2019 as an ode to the rainy, lazy days after the spurt of locals’ summer sunshine. Cheers and sun up!

The weather has not been quite fair these days. In fact, it’s been downright dank. And with dreary weather comes a little bit of a lackadaisical mood — especially for students cooped up in a high school all day. But, back in the day, there was a remedy for what ailed RFH students when lazy, hazy days drenched with dismal weather set in. That colored brick and pillar remedy was the Junior Lounge.

Continue reading Retro Dank Daze of RFH Junior Lounging →
Local Life

Retro Fair Haven Tigers Cheer!

Image
Fair Haven Tigers cheerleaders circa 1973 or '74 Photo/courtesy of Karen Memmot Hooten
Fair Haven Tigers cheerleaders circa 1973 or ’74
Photo/courtesy of Karen Memmot Hooten

A reprise of a cheery Retro Pic of the Day, originally posted in September of 2016, in honor of the spirit of football for the pint-and-a-half sized of the Rumson-Fair Haven area … 

Can we have a retro cheer for the football season of a pandemic kind ahead?

Continue reading Retro Fair Haven Tigers Cheer! →
Local Life

Retro Leaving Fall to the Neighborhood Kids

Image
The Fair Haven Croft kids take a fall tumble into the leaves on Parker Avenue
Photo/Jack Croft

Leave it to the 60s playtime experts — literally. Don’t try this at home. It’s pretty likely that parents this era are looking at this retro fall Fair Haven scene in horror.

Continue reading Retro Leaving Fall to the Neighborhood Kids →
Local Life

Retro 1950s Fair Haven Kindergarten Class Act

Image

A classic reprise originally posted in 2017 and now reprised every year in celebration of that ever so priceless school picture day. This one takes us back to a Fair Haven kindergarten class of 1955 at Knollwood School. At one time or another, three different schools housed kindergarten classes in Fair Haven. The pictures? Well, there was always that group shot, no matter where, that captured some priceless looks, fashion and hairdos.  

School bells are ringing. Class is in session. Back-to-school mode is still kicking in. Back-to-school nights have welcomed parents back to the school halls. And, for some, it’s about taking a walk back to their own school days in the same place — like Knollwood School.

Continue reading Retro 1950s Fair Haven Kindergarten Class Act →
Local Life

Remembering My Fair Daddy

Image

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. 30, 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 on the fair grounds …

Retro Fair Haven Firemen's Fair stock room days in the 1970s Photo/FHFD booklet
Retro Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair stock room days in the 1970s
Photo/FHFD booklet

By Elaine Van Develde

It’s been 39 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 Remembering My Fair Daddy →
Local Life, Opinion

Steeping in Fair Memories: Cooking Up Firemen’s Fair Goodness

Image

The following piece was originally published on Aug. 27, 2015. It’s just about fair time again, so it’s time to take a look back at how things were and are done a pivotal place at the fair — the kitchen and dining room.

By Elaine Van Develde

Someone’s in the kitchen at Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair grounds.

And while they may have, at one point another been with someone named Dinah, as the old ditty goes, it’s a definite they’ve been with someone named Mike, Dale, Sue (x2), Raquel, Ethel (x2), Mary, Anne, Amanda, Skippy, Hodgie, Mary Ellen, Joe, Evie, and, oh, yeah, Andy and a few others.

And they certainly haven’t been strummin’ on any ol’ banjo. They’ve been way too busy — cutting, peeling, filling, flouring, husking and just plain cooking.

Except there’s nothing plain about what’s cooking in the fair kitchen, who’s cooking it, when, where, why or how.

Continue reading Steeping in Fair Memories: Cooking Up Firemen’s Fair Goodness →
Local Life

Retro Sandy Hook Lifeguarding Muscle

Image
Sandy Hook lifeguards circa 1984
Photo/courtesy of Joanne Distefano Garelli via Miguel Mejia, Facebook screenshot

Well, it’s been a sizzling summer and everyone’s been diving in … to the ocean for refreshment and, of course, in the name of locals’ tradition. And while everyone’s diving in and swimming with the summer tide, lifeguards are making sure that all make it back to shore.

Continue reading Retro Sandy Hook Lifeguarding Muscle →
Local Life

Retro Happy Summer Scout Campers

Image
Fair Haven Boy Scout Troop #125 set to embark on a trip to Forestburgh in 1976
Photo/Frank Boesch

Heigh-Hoh! It’s off to scout camp they went …

Back in the 1970s, that is. Fair Haven Boy Scouts are wrapping up their return to camp at Forestburgh, NY after a two-year COVID-inspired hiatus and they’re soaking up not only the heat wave, but a lot of make-up time and tradition.

Continue reading Retro Happy Summer Scout Campers →
Local Life

Retro Fair Haven TGIF Crew

A little TGIF kind of gathering at the Lang home in Fair Haven circa 1970s
Photo/Lang family

Originally posted on Feb. 25, 2022, we are reprising this one in honor of Jim Butler, who passed away a few days ago … RIP, Mr. Butler. RIP, all. It’s official, no one in this photo remains. The memories sure do, though …

Nothing says “neighborly TGIF” like a look back at what was a common kind of casual gathering of friends just because.

Continue reading Retro Fair Haven TGIF Crew →
Local Life

Retro Rumson Beach Boys’ Stand-Off

Image
Rumson boys’ beach time circa 1960s
Photo/ Courtesy of Cindy Crowley

A reprise in honor of those beachy days of summer and close encounters decades before pandemic thoughts, in the thick of it or coming out of it … Here’s to summer days in Sea Bright!

Call them the 60s beach boys of Rumson. They were … from Rumson and on the beach. Boys on the beach. Yeah, that’s it.

Continue reading Retro Rumson Beach Boys’ Stand-Off →