Alma, Arkansas
Alma is a small city in Crawford County in western Arkansas. It sits in the Arkansas River Valley near the Ozark Mountains and is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The city is known as a crossroads town and proudly calls itself the Spinach Capital of the World.
As of 2020, about 5,825 people lived in Alma, with an estimated 6,017 residents in 2024. The city covers a little under 6 square miles. Alma’s location along Interstates 40 and 49 (and nearby U.S. Routes 64 and 71) makes it easy to reach by road. There is no local airport.
Alma was incorporated in 1874. Its economy shifted from farming to canning, and it became famous for spinach, thanks to the nearby Allen Canning Company. The town’s spinach pride is celebrated with a Popeye statue in downtown Popeye Park, a nod to the cartoon character’s spinach fame. Every spring, Alma hosts the Spinach Festival at City Park and the Community Center, with rides, crafts, food, live music, a spinach-eating contest, and a spinach drop.
The city government combines the mayor and city council into a Governing Body. The council has six members elected from three wards, and the mayor serves a four-year term. The current mayor is Jim Fincher. Alma provides public education through the Alma School District, which includes four schools: Alma Primary, Alma Intermediate, Alma Middle, and Alma High School.
Alma gets its drinking water from Lake Alma, which is formed by a dam on Little Frog Bayou. Wastewater is treated locally before it is discharged. The city is surrounded by rural towns and offers a mix of small-town life and highway accessibility.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:41 (CET).