Chickaloonies

Great article from Lakota McRoberts!

Grandma’s Table to the Future: Chickaloonies Carries Tradition into the Future with Rebel Road - Copper River Record At the Alaska State Fair this year, visitors to the Native Gathering Place near the Yellow Gate may notice one cabin that looks a little different from the rest. Bright neon colors, glowing berries, …

A cursory scroll of the internet will tell you that the world is burning in a blaze of discontent, division, death and destruction. But what if we told you that there was a town in Alaska where the birds chirp cheerily, the deer graze on grass behind the library and kids bike around unsupervised until the sun goes down.

No, this isn’t a movie, it’s a bird shaped island in southeast Alaska called Wrangell. These small communities are a dying breed and visiting them is one of the true wonders of the 49th state .

It might have taken 2 years for Sarah—the library director whom we met at the PNLA/AKLA con—to bring us there, but good things always come to those who wait…and the people of Wrangell have been very patient.

For two days, Chickaloonies collaborated with the entire community to create a whole cast of new characters and stories born right from their own environment. Even if that environment is Mars, which is where every character’s backstory took place.

It is a special thing to be able to see a tight knit place like this from so many different perspectives. To fully immerse yourself in this pool of collective energy that flows so freely when everyone in town knows your name. Becuase of this, we discovered Wrangell already knew how to collab and even taught us a thing or two.

Our deepest thanks to the Wrangell community for welcoming us into your home. We have done our best to share the knowledge we have gained and hope to see a new crop of storytellers from the southeast sometime soon.

Special thanks to Sarah, Caitlin and Michelle at the library—this wouldn’t have happened without your support.

There are no words to express the depth of our gratitude to everyone who supported us at the Alaska State Fair this year.

We are beyond humbled to have created something that resonates with so many different people in so many different ways.

It is only because of our fans that we can even continue to walk this path and we cannot wait to share more of Moji and Yelly’s adventures with you all.

They say that good things come in threes. Kinda like phone, wallet and keys. For your slightly weary, but always grateful storytellers, our third year at the Alaska State Fair has proven that if you’re stubborn enough and slightly insane, you too can achieve your dreams!! 😅

In fact , this may have been our best year yet—filled with victories far more valuable than money. Getting the chance to meet so many fans face to face, to hear their stories, to see the excitement in picking up the new book—this is critical creation fuel for us.

Having the opportunity to create new stories inspired by the past in the very place where Chickaloonies began is a truly special privilege. That’s why we view the state fair as the anchor of our year. It is the marker by which we chronicle cycles and this is officially the 5 year anniversary of Chickaloonies!

We’ve grown so much and learned so much these past 5 years that we know we still have so much yet to discover. We are beyond thankful for everyone who has joined Moji and Yelly on their journey these past 5 years. This is the best work we’ve done in our lives and we could not be more proud to share it with the people of Alaska and beyond.

Huge thanks to everyone who made these past few weeks possible—Kathy, Alan, Katie and Jay, Carol and Blake, Mat and Jade, Carol and Doug, John, Scott, Stacy, Michele, Ruth, Nick Hanson, as well as all the elders and artists holding it down in the Native Gathering Place.

Next stop—WRANGELL, AK!

FAIR STATS
-574 emojis given away
-Countless hand cut stickers given away
-Tons of coloring sheets given away
-18 Characters in 14 days

Starting off the 2nd to last day of the Alaska State Fair with this really fantastic article from Lakota McRoberts of the Copper River Record!

Lakota really dug into the foundation of what we’ve built and how the past informs our future with every step forward.

Big thanks to Lakota and the CRR and make sure to stop by the chickaloonies cabin at the native gathering place!

Big thanks to Isaac for the support!

The MY House Podcast Ep. 71: Dimi & Casey - The Chickaloonies On todays episode of The MY House Podcast Isaac and Lily interviewe...

It’s been a whirlwind first week at the Alaska State Fair and your favorite storytellers are…😪😪 TIRED. Sustained through copious amounts of coffee, cough drops and cookies, we’ve been rattling through the days, sharing our story with fans new and old.

2026 marks the third year for Chickaloonies at the state fair, and we’ve finally graduated to our own cabin (!!) in the gathering place. Moji has been able to set up his workshop where he crafts futuristic Ahtna regalia, daggers and all sorts of other cardboard wonders. Heck, we even have a kitchenette!

For our storytime slot this year, we decided to change things up and introduce our very popular “Create-A-Character w/ the Chickaloonies” to the fair audience. Yelly guides the group and fields suggestions while Moji draws it LIVE, right in front of everyone’s eyes.

This collaborative experiment is an effort to share the magic that we feel when creating our stories and is perhaps the most distilled example of our collaboration. Sharing ideas with the audience, being fueled by their creativity, has kept us warm on many a cold Alaskan night.

We will be back at the fair tomorrow from 11-7 in the Native Gathering Place, so make sure to stop by if you are attending. Don’t miss out on the chance to make your own collaborative character at 2:30 everyday and don’t forget the we have ADVANCE COPIES OF BOOK 3!!! That’s right, get your hands on the newest volume of Chickaloonies—Rebel Road, a full 3 MONTHS BEFORE anyone else!

Huge thanks to all our supporters for coming out and saying hi—we hope you enjoy the new book!