The following piece was originally published in August of 2015. Here it is again, on the year without a fair, in honor of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair and my mom, Sally Van Develde, to whom this site is dedicated along with my dad, Bill …
Growing up in Fair Haven with parents in the fire company, Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair time meant time spent inflating punch balls during the day and helium balloons at night.
Continue reading Fair Remembrance: My Balloon MamaThis 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
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
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
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.
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!
Fair Haven’s National Night Out 2020 turned into Night In. And it was a night in to be remembered — for nothing except the pandemic that showed no mercy and canceled another community event.
Continue reading Retro Night Out on a Pandemic Year Night In
Well, Tropical Storm Isaias ripped through the Rumson-Fair Haven area like an angry NIMBY, leaving lots of carnage, uncanny sun and power outages in its wake.
Continue reading Retro Powering Through: Light in Dark Sandy Times
On the heels of some teen partying over the bridge in Middletown that resulted in 20 positive COVID-19 test results and prompted emergency tracing by the township’s health department, we are reminded of a carefree partying time post graduation.
Continue reading Retro RFH Close Encounter Party Daze
A 2016 reprise, because it’s summertime and such close summer encounters aren’t so easy these days, but we can remember at several years’ distance and summon them back…
Summer fun in Fair Haven doesn’t get any simpler or more treasured than ending the day down by the Fair Haven Dock, sand between the toes, a few antics up the sleeve, a little seaweed in the shorts, and a crab or 20. Dock time has been a time-honored tradition for kids since, well, the dawn of time.
Continue reading Retro Summer Fair Haven Dock Days
Retro Pic of the Day reprise of an early 80s hot summer day trip adventure, because everyone needs a little coolness in their lives right now ...
The scorching summer heat lately has made taking a flying leap into a fountain, or any body of water, a goal to which many aspire — and attain as the need to cool down beckons.
In fact, summer days, for RFHers, weren’t always all about beach clubbing it and keeping cool, fun times local.
Continue reading Retro RFHers’ Sizzling Cool Great Adventure
Reprise of a favorite, because the heat is on for the weekend and everyone needs a little reminder of close, cool partying times … Toga!
Oh, the weekend has arrived … and what better way to celebrate than raising a glass to memories of an old toga party. Remember those?
Continue reading Retro RFH Toga Partying Time
You must be logged in to post a comment.