Model Kenzi Osgood wears a creation by Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer, an Inupiaq designer from Kotzebue, at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
The Anchorage Museum atrium transformed into a catwalk for the 2024 Far North Fashion show Thursday night.
The show featured eight Alaska Native designers who created nearly 40 looks for the event. Walking to a playlist of music drawn from around the circumpolar north, some models wore traditional garments while others showed off looks that featured fur, skins and feathers on gowns and streetwear. Occasionally, a model broke into a traditional Alaska Native dance move as the crowd of about 650 people cheered their approval.
This is the second year fashion show coordinator Trina Landlord has organized the event. She said when she was 13, she and her best friend would dream about Alaska Native fashion on runways.
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“We didn’t ever see anyone who looked like us who were designers or models,” Landlord said. “Fast forward to now, and this is my fifth fashion show I’ve done featuring Alaska Native designers. Some have shown at Toronto fashion week.”
The theme of this year’s fashion show — the “Black and White Raven Collection” — appeared throughout the night, from models’ makeup and hair to the feathered capelets and adornments of many looks.
The raven theme was inspired by the magical, transformative creatures that appear in the stories and songs of many Alaska Native cultures, Landlord said. But like the fashion show itself, it’s also a take on modern-day life — and 2024′s buzziest local celebrity.
“With the new paparazzi following the white raven around — keeping that in mind, it’s so new and unusual and unique,” Landlord said.
The show was presented by Arctic Encounter, a symposium of events centered on Arctic policy, business and culture that took place Wednesday through Friday in downtown Anchorage.
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[Quannah’s connection: Model and activist makes a different sort of appearance at Elders and Youth Conference]
Model Deenaalee Hodgdon wears Inupiaq designer Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer featuring accessories by Tlingit artist Jennifer Younger at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
Amiah Xootsk Johnson wears a seal skin vest by Jeremiah James and a white raven mask by Jerry Laktonen during the Far North Fashion Show on April 11, 2024, at the Anchorage Museum. (Alena Naiden / ADN)
Inupiaq model Robin Thompson wears Unangax designer Mary Kelsay at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
Unangax model Erin Messmer wears a design by Unangax designer Mary Kelsay at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
Aaron Tolen models for designer Jeremiah James at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
Model Samuel Sivulaq Mecham wears Merna Lomack Wharton’s design during the Far North Fashion Show on April 12, 2024, at the Anchorage Museum. (Alena Naiden / ADN)
Unangax model Haliehana Stepetin wears Inupiaq designer Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
Models Deenaalee Hodgdon, Keegan Richards, Ryan Richards and Kenzi Osgood wear designs by Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer, an Inupiaq designer from Kotzebue, at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
Yup’ik model Jenay Mike models for Tlingit designer Reine Pavlik of Yakutat at the Far North Fashion Show at the Anchorage Museum on April 11, 2024. (Kerry Tasker photo)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A musician with Alaska Native roots recorded an hour-long live set in Interior Alaska beneath the aurora.
Chastity Ashley, a drummer, vocalist and DJ who performs under the name Neon Pony, celebrated a year since she traveled to Nenana to record a live music set beneath the northern lights for her series Beats and Hidden Retreats.
Ashley, who has Indigenous roots in New Mexico, said she was drawn to Alaska in part because of the role drums play in Alaska Native culture. A handmade Alaskan hand drum, brought to her by a man from just outside Anchorage, was incorporated into the performance in February 2025.
Recording in the cold
The team spent eight days in Nenana waiting for the aurora to appear. Ashley said the lights did not come out until around 4 a.m., and she performed a continuous, uninterrupted hour-long set in 17-degree weather without gloves.
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“It was freezing. I couldn’t wear gloves because I’m actually playing, yeah, hand drums and holding drumsticks. And there was ice underneath my feet,” Ashley said.
“So, I had to really utilize my balance and my willpower and my ability to just really immerse in the music and let go and make it about the celebration of what I was doing as opposed to worrying about all the other elements or what could go wrong.”
She said she performed in a leotard to allow full range of motion while drumming, DJing and singing.
Filming on Nenana tribal land
Ashley said she did not initially know the filming location was on indigenous land. After local authorities told her the decision was not theirs to make, she contacted the Nenana tribe directly for permission.
“I went into it kind of starting to tell them who I was and that I too was a part of a native background,” Ashley said. “And they just did not even care. They’re like, listen, we’re about to have a party for one of our friends here. Go and do what you like.”
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Ashley said the tribe gave her full permission to film on the reservation, and that the aurora footage seen in the episode was captured there.
Seeing the aurora for the first time
Ashley said the Nenana performance marked her first time seeing the northern lights in person.
“It felt as if I were awake in a dream,” she said. “It really doesn’t seem real.”
She said she felt humbled and blessed to perform beneath the aurora and to celebrate its beauty and grandeur through her music.
“I feel incredibly humbled and blessed that not only did I get to take part in seeing something like that, but to play underneath it and celebrate its beauty and its grandeur.”
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The Alaska episode is the second installment of Beats and Hidden Retreats, which is available on YouTube at @NeonPony. Ashley said two additional episodes are in production and she hopes to make it back up to Alaska in the future.
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JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – An Alaska drug task force seized roughly $162,000 worth of controlled substances during an operation in Juneau Thursday, according to the Juneau Police Department.
Around 3 p.m. Thursday, investigators with the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) approached 50-year-old Juneau resident Jermiah Pond in the Nugget Mall parking lot while he was sitting in his car, according to JPD.
A probation search of the car revealed a container holding about 7.3 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, as well as about 1.21 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for fentanyl.
As part of the investigation, investigators executed a search warrant at Pond’s residence, during which they found about 46.63 gross grams of ketamine, 293.56 gross grams of fentanyl, 25.84 gross grams of methamphetamine and 25.5 gross grams of MDMA.
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In all, it amounted to just less than a pound of drugs worth $162,500.
Investigators also seized $102,640 in cash and multiple recreational vehicles believed to be associated with the investigation.
Pond was lodged on charges of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, five counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a substance and an outstanding felony probation warrant.
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SAND POINT, Alaska (KTUU) – A teenage boy who was last seen Monday when the canoe he was in tipped over has been found by a dive team in a lake near Sand Point, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Alaska’s News Source confirmed with the person, who is close to the search efforts, that the dive team found 15-year-old Kaipo Kaminanga deceased Thursday in Red Cove Lake, located a short drive from the town of Sand Point on the Aleutian Island chain.
Kaminanga was last seen canoeing with three other friends on Monday when the boat tipped over.
A search and rescue operation ensued shortly after.
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Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team posted on Facebook Thursday night that they were able to “locate and recover” Kaminanga at around 5 p.m. Thursday.
“We are glad we could bring closure to his family, friends and community,” the post said.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more details become available.
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:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/BHJYOLRFKVDMDG3CVMSVPMYAUM.JPG?ssl=1 "At the Far North Fashion Show, Alaska Native designs take flight")
