Alva Review-Courier -

The Cherokee Strip Museum of Alva has made great strides over the last 20 years. At one time, the museum was one of the ‘best kept secrets in Alva.’ It sat up on the hill like a silent sentinel and kept its treasures ready for occasional visitors who would come to visit.

Using social media has given the museum access to a wide area of clientele and brought many visitors to Alva and the museum. In earlier times, the museum drew around 5 or 10 visitors a month. During the just month of June this year, the museum boasted 132 visitors! They came from Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, North Carolina, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, New York, Utah, Nebraska and Ireland. There were even some visitors who are living on a sailboat in the Caribbean. The month of July brought 78 visitors from eight states. That is still a good showing for people coming to our hometown museum.

The museum has been growing in attendance and the compound has seen many changes over the past few years. The Share Annex has been remodeled with the addition of a kitchen, new tables and chairs, bathroom, speaker system and microphone. It is available to be rented for a nominal fee for functions that accommodate 80 to 100 people. It is frequently booked in advance for meetings, reunions, parties, showers, receptions – you name it. An exhibition center was added to the north of the annex that houses many unique and interesting things from our local history: a chuck wagon, a car owned by Corky Share, an early Alva fire wagon, along with many other farm antiques that were of great importance to our early days of farming and harvesting.

The Cedar Grove Church was moved in for restoration, and is now being used for weddings. Bride and groom dressing rooms were added to the annex to complete the package for wedding parties, along with an outdoor covered patio for events or receptions. We have had seven weddings so far and look forward to future bookings. The parking lot for this venue was recently paved and is handicap friendly. A new privacy fence has been added along the canyon backdrop behind the chapel, with honeysuckle plants growing to enhance the ambiance.

A new covered walkway is located to the southwest of the museum to display antique farm machinery. In the lower level of the museum, we now offer climate-controlled rooms to rent for storage.

The museum has been busy meeting the needs of the community and surrounding area by offering many learning and educational activities. There have been two Talking Tombstone events that transport people back in time on a wagon to selected tombstones in the Alva Cemetery. In this event, local actors depict the person buried there and their unique life story. There have been two of these Talking Tombstone Tours that have been highly attended fundraising events. Alva has some very interesting characters in the cemetery, from outlaws to Teddy Roosevelt Rough Riders.

Using the same format, a “Talk of the Town” wagon tour around the downtown square was held, telling of early day businesses and where they were located, along with interesting facts about them.

Another educational and quite successful event was “Night at the Museum,” which was held two times. Local actors portrayed people such as doctors in the surgery room, telephone operators and early day beauty shop hair dressers, and many specialty rooms came to life. Sellout crowds attended both events with rave reviews.

The museum is also the site of a restored local country school. Every year, all fifth-grade students from Alva are invited to attend the country school dressed in time-period clothing with lunch in a bucket. In this setting, they experience a one-room schoolhouse, old-time music, recess and activities. Students get to experience what it was like in early day schools.

A youth summer camp was held at the museum, with emphasis on the early day Cherokee Strip Land Run and included activities such as making butter and ice cream.

The museum has organized educational one-day bus trips that also provide entertainment. We are planning on more historical outings and activities once Covid restrictions are lifted.

Hang on to your hats and get ready for new educational, entertaining family events, including those during the upcoming Ranger Homecoming weekend, and watch for the museum's float in the homecoming parade.