On the Osage: Putting Fairfax on the Map

Photo courtesy of The Fairfax Chief

Putting Fairfax on the Map. . .

One Sip at a Time

by Kelly Bland

If rural sweetness and wholesome goodness had a coffee flavor, I’ll bet my bottom dollar you’d be able to pour yourself a cup and sip it at Treats in Fairfax, Oklahoma. Yes, I said Fairfax.

As The Tourism Gal, I travel across all parts of the county, and one of my favorite stops is at the four-way across from the Osage Baptist Church, in an old Skelly gas station in downtown Fairfax. The smiles of Monte and Luella Nabors are almost as bright as the newly-painted exterior of their home away from home coffee shop.

“Hello Kelly,” they always say with a great big grin, followed by “what can we make you today?”

I always tell Monte to just surprise me, and he does his darndest to do just that every time. In all of the inoculant concoctions he’s brewed up for me, never have I had a coffee there that didn’t leave me wanting to go back for more or that wasn’t good to the last drop.

In addition to freshly-brewed perfection, Luella bakes bountiful batches of made-from-scratch cookies every day, and the scent of them and coffee beans invites you in as you walk through the door. Like I said, rural sweetness and wholesome goodness — just like you used to find at Grandma’s house when you’d spend the weekend — is there in generous supply, and Monte and Luella have a way of making you feel just as welcome at Treats.

In the adjoining room you’ll find an area where you can sit and enjoy the morning and your coffee from within a gift shop stocked with books and art available for purchase. Many a visit I have found Joe and Carol Conner, owners of The Fairfax Chief, in there. I always enjoy sitting down with them and visiting about local politics, the latest news, and buried history. One thing Fairfax definitely has no shortage of is history.

While Pawhuska has dominated most of the media focus, filming for Killers of the Flower Moon has also taken place in Fairfax, which is fitting, since most of the story in David Grann’s bestseller took place in Fairfax. In fact, if you pay close attention downtown, you’ll see where “Hale Hall” is still painted above a doorway at 229 1/2 No. Main. William Hale, if you’ve read the book, was the Fairfax rancher and mastermind villain in Grann’s novel.

In addition, in the lobby of the Tallchief Theater, a new exhibit telling a bit of the back story behind Killers of the Flower Moon is now on display. I’d encourage you to swing by before you head out of town. Joe Conner has taken much time and effort to bring out historic details not widely known.

So, let the coffee draw you over — let the history bowl you over — as you explore the mystery that still hangs in the air in a place on the western edge of Osage County. A place where greed and corruption once created a reign of terror, but now where Monte and Luella Nabors are redeeming the atmosphere one cup of coffee, smile, and cookie at a time at the four-way — in a place called Treats in downtown Fairfax, Oklahoma.

#OsageCountyOklahoma where #TheSmilesAreAlwaysFree.