A Fair Haven tradition

As I drove past the set up of the Fair Haven Fireman's Fair yesterday, I watched the arrival of the kiddie rides in the front and remembered seeing young couples with little kids, grandparents bringing their grandchildren for the first time and many annual tradition's beginning. I also recall the teenagers that hang out in the back being cool because the are without their parents, maybe even for the first time, or parents like me that hung around, trying to keep a low profile so we wouldn't be spotted, but there is need. I was usually hanging out by the burgers, and eating way too many french fries.Of course the Fireman's Fair is the sign that the lazy days of Summer are coming to an end and school is not that far away, but it is also the reminder of what our area is all about. The small town feel, where everyone knows everyone, where your friends and neighbors also watch out for your kids, a place to call home, to raise your family. This is where we watched them grow from pre-schoolers in the baby pool, to letting them take their bike for the first time by themselves to school along the beautiful leafy roads. Then there is the tween stage and the tears of who is being mean to whom. Next comes the teen years of riding their bikes to the beach, the sports we cheered, the log hut building school trip in the Huber woods, the stickers we gave and the boo boo's we kissed away. I don't think my kids could have had a better place to grow up than this wonderful area that we live in. From our beautiful beaches, and sleepy seaside villages like Monmouth Beach, to leafy Rumson, Norman Rockwell Fair Haven, hip Red Bank with it's shops and restaurants, to the bay-side town of Atlantic Highlands with the movie theater we all love and a marina with the fast ferry out of Utopia and back again by the end of the day.
This year as I drove by, I realized a season has ended for me and a new one is beginning. No more back to school, as my youngest child is leaving for University of Tampa on Sunday. We are taking her and then staying a few extra days, you know keeping a low profile - just there in case she needs us. I wonder if there is a place to get burgers and fries while we wait.
http://www.fhfd.org/firemansfair.html
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