SLAPOUT—Seems like everyone has a story about Slapout, including Trevor Perkins, the owner of Slapout’s only actively operating business Tumbleweed Alley Hat Co.
Located on the far southeastern edge of Beaver County on Oklahoma 3 (also the confluence of U.S. 270 and U.S. 412), Slapout has topped the folklore talk of Northwest Oklahoma since the Great Depression and Dust Bowl days.
It began with the construction of Oklahoma 3 in the 1930s. Local businessman Tom Lemmons traded for a two-room tar-paper shack and placed it on the dusty road that would become the highway passing through his rented land (owned by Joseph “Joe” Johnston) in September 1932.
There was a need in the Oklahoma Panhandle for supplies, so Lemmons opened a grocery store in the front room of that shack and he lived in the back room until 1939.
He named his business Nye Mercantile, allegedly after U.S. Senator Gerald Nye who reportedly was a friend of his in the Kansas Legislature, thus effectively naming his newly formed town Nye.
The name Slapout, according to local legend, came about because customers at the mercantile were often told by Lemmons’ sister Artie (who would fill in for him when he’d run to Woodward for resupply) that the place was “slap out” of whatever items they wanted.
In 1937, Lemmons relocated the Nye Mercantile building across the street on the north side of that soon-to-be-finished highway and then added a gas station, which he operated until 1960.
Back on the south side of that new highway, Johnston built a general store (using lumber from the old Baptist church) and gas station (housing it in a chicken coop from his farm) on his land and called his side of town Slapout rather than Nye. Johnston died not long after in 1950.
Despite his efforts to call the tiny town without a post office Nye, Lemmons (who grew up outside Cleo Springs as the second of 14 kids) eventually gave in to the name Slapout by 1945 when reporters came to town for the official dedication of the highway, according to a 1982 interview with The Daily Oklahoman.
There was zero mention in that article of the Wikipedia, Reddit, and other internet myths that his handmade town sign Nye was taken out by a tornado in 1949 thus forcing him to concede. Lemmons died in 1984.
It was in the early 1980s that the late Gov. George Nigh designated nearly $100 million to upgrade the Northwest Oklahoma portion of Oklahoma 3, which led to Oklahoma Department of Transportation nicknaming it “George Nigh’s Northwest Passage” in February 1981. It is the longest state highway in Oklahoma at 615 miles, stretching diagonally from the Colorado state line north of Boise City in the Panhandle to the far southeastern corner of Oklahoma east of Idabel to the Arkansas state line.
Unfortunately, despite all the opportunities afforded with the advent of the highway, the population of this unincorporated community never went above 43 and steadily decreased after World War II to the point of becoming a ghost town. Currently the actual population of Slapout teeters around 10.
The south side grocery store that changed hands several times hasn’t served the rural community in decades. There are still a few homes and abandoned structures scattered around the main intersection, but property in Slapout is addressed as Laverne, which is 18 miles northeast in the neighboring Harper County.
Slapout famously served as a pitstop and the midway point for 2,905-mile cross-country bicycle competition Race Across America from Irvine, Calif., to Savannah, Ga., in the mid-1990s.
However, the Slapout Convenience Store and Café on the north side of the highway officially closed at the end of 2024, leaving travelers far and wide without a place to eat or take a bathroom break on that long lonely stretch of road between Fort Supply and Bryan’s Corner outside of Balko.
Perkins hopes to change that in the near future.
Staking interest in Slapout
Perkins’ great-great-grandfather homesteaded during the Dust Bowl days in Gate, which is 19 miles north of Slapout, and his grandmother’s family obtained the property situated just northeast of the Slapout intersection years ago.
“We own this whole corner,” he said. Perkins moved to Slapout six years ago to live on the land and became an entrepreneur along the way.
In 2022, as a side gig, he got an embroidery machine—“it was a good deal and I thought I could make money with it,” Perkins said—and started making ball caps and trucker hats for folks in the Laverne area for events such as the community’s Fourth of July celebration and the rodeo. Tumbleweed Alley Hat Co. was born.
Then all of the sudden, his small business in Slapout got a boost thanks to an unsolicited celebrity endorsement.
Singer-songwriter Josh Meloy from Oklahoma’s Red Dirt music scene fast-tracked Perkins’ hat company onto the main stage. As it turns out, Perkins’ childhood friend Hunter Baskett was Meloy’s bass player, which is how Meloy wound up with Tumbleweed Alley apparel.
“Josh Meloy started wearing my stuff,” Perkins said. “He was one of the first to believe in us.”
Once the hat company started getting busy, it began paying for itself and making a profit, allowing Perkins to focus on it full-time.
Not only does he cater to Meloy, he also supplies official merchandise for other Red Dirt artists at Stillwater’s annual Calf Fry Festival at the Tumbleweed Dance Hall. His hats are now even for sale at Langston’s Western Wear in the Oklahoma City Stockyards.
Tumbleweed Alley primarily does custom jobs, giving Perkins the ability to create artwork and logos for companies and statewide events. He does all the in-house embroidery (as he’s the only one who can run the machine, he said) while his mom prints the t-shirts. His younger brother runs the patch machine and helps with the event pop-up booths.
“It’s definitely a family company,” Perkins said.
He produces between 50 to 60 hats a day, up to 100 a day if it’s a rush job.
“I’m making hats all the time,” he said.
The plan in the next year or two is to relocate the business from his family’s trailer home to a shop building up the hill on the property directly on the highway.
By doing so, travelers on Oklahoma 3 will be able to resume stopping and shopping in Slapout. There will be Slapout merchandise available again plus they can watch hat machines in progress and/or order customized apparel from Tumbleweed Alley Hat Co.
“We’ve done really well. A lot of people love hats,” Perkins said. “It’s been an exciting experience. I love living in Slapout.”
Tumbleweed Alley Hat Co.’s office in Slapout is not currently open to the public. However, to browse what is for sale or to make an order, go online to tumbleweedalleyhatco.com or call (405) 802-3772. Follow updates on social media at Facebook.com/Tumbleweedalleyhatco.