ALINE—For over a century, the townspeople of Aline have been commemorating their tiny rural community in Alfalfa County with an annual fall fair.
Founded shortly after the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, Aline emerged with a post office set up on the farm of Ezra Hartshorn, south of present-day Aline, in April 1894, and his wife Jennie served as the first postmaster. As president of the Aline Townsite Company, he developed the township when the railroad came through in 1901 and thus named the town after his daughter Mabel Aline, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
While less than 200 people now living there, Aline has a rich historical connection to Oklahoma, as the town can lay claim to the nearby Sod House Museum. Pioneer Marshal McCully staked his claim during the Land Run of 1893 in the middle of a vast prairie east of what became the town of Aline. He carved out a dugout hollowed out of a ravine bank to shelter in while he constructed his home—which stands today as Oklahoma’s only intact sod house, preserved in the exact location it was when McCully built it.
Unfortunately, the museum temporarily closed earlier this summer when long-time museum director Renee Trindle underwent surgery and is still recovering. OHS has not announced when the Sod House Museum will reopen to the public.
In the meantime, past graduates and former citizens often return home every October to join with current residents in celebrating the Aline Fall Fair.
Stirring up the past
Since the 1920s, everyone in Aline gathered downtown in revelry.
According to Aline native Steve Irwin and his wife, Lori, there were much more festivities back in the day such as animals, rodeos, street dances, tractor pulls, car shows, fair exhibits, and other fall fest events.
But the biggest draw since World War II is the soup.
It began sometime in the early 1950s—no one today knows for sure what year—when local grocer George Goodno teamed up with Army veteran Virgil Irwin (Steve’s dad) to make beef stew in the Christian Church basement.
“It was such a hit,” Steve said, they decided to do it for everyone the following year. They rounded up three huge cauldrons—one is an 80-gallon, another is a 30-gallon, and the smallest is a 20-gallon—and hauled them onto Main Street. Today those same heavy soup pots are delivered via forklifts from storage at the Aline Volunteer Fire Department.
Stirred with big wooden slats, the annual free lunch’s ingredients consist of over 100 pounds of peeled potatoes, chunks of stew meat, 8 gallons of diced tomatoes, and combination of carrots, cabbage, and celery chopped the night before.
Lori said they’ve tweaked the recipe through the years, asked to try new additions such as macaroni, beans, and/or tomato paste, only to quickly discover that the old way is still the best way.
The stew typically feeds between 200 and 300 people.
A time for gathering
Aline Fall Fair is technically a two-day affair.
On Friday night after all the soup veggies have been prepped that afternoon is white elephant bingo at the Aline Senior Center—which universally acts as the town’s gathering place—and a fundraising dinner at the Christian Church’s youth center.
Saturday is when things really get hopping downtown.
This year, the Aline-Cleo junior class will serve breakfast beginning at 8 a.m. at the Christian Church’s youth center as part of the fundraiser for junior prom. Vendors will be set up alongside the senior center with baked goods, crafts, jellies, pickles, and more for sale.
The parade of antique cars, tractors, wagons, bicycles, and motorcycles kicks off at 10:30 a.m. Main Street will remain blocked off for the bicycle and foot races following the parade and then the soup is on at noon outside of the fire station.
On tap for the afternoon are games such as the egg toss and coin search.
More than 20 years ago, one of the other notable features of the fall fair was the professional anvil shoot by an outfit out of Kansas, but Steve said they don’t do that anymore. It’s been replaced by the cannon ball shoot which is actually a bowling ball shot through a water tank to make an explosion by Aline Co-op’s Alan Nusser who assembled the cannon contraption used.
Another highlight in 2025 will be Steve’s great-grandfather’s 1932 McCormick tractor that been modified into an ice cream maker.
Stitching together heritage
Local ladies who hand-quilt every Tuesday at the senior center will be displaying quilts that have been made including one that will be raffled during the Aline Fall Fair to raise funds for senior center repairs.
The Aline Senior Center was built by volunteers in 2000 under the direction of the late A.J. Rexroat. Rexroat and his wife Carolyn once owned and operated the Victorian-styled Heritage Manor Bed and Breakfast on the outskirts of town until his death in 2011.
Steve said Rexroat wanted a community center in Aline where folks could play cards and dominos, quilt, have coffee and chat, or rent the space for special occasions like birthday parties, baby showers, wedding receptions, public auctions, or even dances. The Aline Senior Center serves as the hub for town meetings too.
And it’s located directly across the street from the fire station, which has one of the few helipads in the region. Lori noted the senior center is plugged into the fire station’s Generac should the power go out and the locals need a safe place to shelter.
“It used to be a big deal,” Steve recalled about attending Aline Fall Fair both as a child and as a family man. He said it was a time of families reuniting and reminiscing; however, he added, it seems nowadays the younger generations don’t put much stock in returning to their hometown for events like this, so the fair crowds in recent years are getting smaller and smaller.
Neither the Irwins nor Aline Chamber of Commerce treasurer Christyn O’Neil know how long the Aline Fall Fair will continue in the future, but for now, they’re going to enjoy it.