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Local Life, Opinion

Celebrating Frankie’s Fair Haven Legacy of Luck and Smiles

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I could still see him. I believe everyone could. He was standing right up front in the far corner of the packed room. He could see it all from there. And, boy, was he smiling. Head tilted back a bit, to take it all in as best he could, his iconic smile spoke a thousand “How lucky we were” words. The rapturous sigh that emanated from his grin filled the room with his legacy of home-grown love.

I could see him add a wink this time as he read the room. The room, in a still-the-same Columbus Club corner nook on the street where we kids biked down the hill to school, was packed with those kids from his Fair Haven childhood.

Continue reading Celebrating Frankie’s Fair Haven Legacy of Luck and Smiles →
Local Life

Focus: Liberty Tree Takes Root in Fair Haven

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“I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means; and that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even although we should regret it.” ~ John Adams in a letter to his wife Abigail, July 3, 1776.

They planted themselves at Fair Haven Fields on Sunday for the sake of a symbolic dedication of the rooting of 250 years of strength and independence in one tree dubbed The Liberty Tree.

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Local Life

An R-FH Area Veterans’ Homage

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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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Local Life

Focus: Going Home to a ‘Middle’ of Fair Sights, Friends, Neighbors and a High Five

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But, what about the middle? The end of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair has always brought me, and many a “fair” kid, back to that middle haven. It’s home … It’s that time — the time when you held it and walked with it (that balloon that eventually got away) that made you smile — like a memory. Letting it go never takes that middle away. ~ Elaine Van Develde

Call it finding a new “middle.” The end of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair 2025 came on Saturday night.

The beginning of the end-of-summer tradition — for not only Fair Havenites, but the many who’ve bonded with it in a community brick-and-mortar-like solidarity — came more than 120 years ago.

Continue reading Focus: Going Home to a ‘Middle’ of Fair Sights, Friends, Neighbors and a High Five →