Tag Archives: Retro Pic of the Day

Local Life

Retro 1950s Fair Haven Kindergarten Class Act

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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.

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Local Life

Remembering My Fair Daddy

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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 41 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.

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Local Life, Opinion

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

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The following piece was originally published on Aug. 27, 2015. It’s 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.

Mike Connor and John Riley get ready to start another fair night 2024
Photo/Elaine Van Develde
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Local Life

Cooking Up ’50s-Style Fun on Starvation Island

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It’s all fun and island-hopping games until they have to start a fire.

Yes, there comes a time when end-of-summer Rumson island-hopping coolness sets in, parents rang the unheard dinner bell and a bunch of hungry, wayward, marooned kids try to cook that fish they caught and toast their own little buns.

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Local Life

Retro Rumson Dock Gang

The Rumson Dock gang of the late 1950s
Photo/courtesy of Alice Mansfield

A reprise … because on hot summer days everyone needs to take a trip back to the coolest of Rumson Dock days of the late 1950s in honor of summertime in the Rumson-Fair Haven area …

You’ve seen the girl from the Rumson Dock. And, behind every good postcard-famed dock girl, there’s a gang — of dedicated dock dwellers.

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Local Life

Retro Rumson Island Mooring Improv

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Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale … about an eight-hour tour, or hundreds, on the river in Rumson.

The part about this typical eight-hour tour in Rumson that doesn’t jibe with the three-hour tour Gilligan’s Island folks is that the kids on these “tours” sailed right into a marooning of their own making on what’s known as Starvation Island, just minutes from home. Who knew or cared, though? No one except the jolly river adventurers.

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Local Life

Retro Fair Haven Gals’ Fair Show Boating

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The FHFD girls on the boat to be raffled at the fair circa 1960s
Photo/.FHFD

The heat is on and the countdown has already begun to the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.

And, back in the day, the 1960s day, the fire department, rather than raffling off a car, SUV or a big chunk of cash (as in Super 50/50), decided to make a boat the prized prize of the fair. And they advertised that with the help of some fire department-affiliated bathing beauties.

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Local Life

Retro Patriotic Peace Pals

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Peace pals of Fair Haven circa early 1970s
Photo /courtesy of Karen Allas

A red-white-and-blue patriotic reprise, just because July 4th is tomorrow …

Peace out. Patriotism. Well-played play date, kids. They were not crooks and they were no Richard Nixon wannabes. But they were at least budding impersonators. Perhaps. Or just era-inspired posers.

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Local Life

Retro Rumson Beach Boys’ Stand-Off

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

A reprise in honor of those “just beachy” days of summer … 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.

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