Hit PBS Kids' Show Molly Of Denali, Involving At Least 4 Copper Valley People, Headed To Emmys

COPPER RIVER COUNTRY JOURNAL  

Local Ahtna People Helped Take PBS Kids' Show About Native Life To The Emmys 

Evelyn Beeter and Wilson Justin Both Involved In The Project 

Yatibaey Evans of Mentasta Is A Producer;

Adelaine Potts, Formerly Of Copper Center, 

Voices A Major Character In The Cartoon 

Emmys Will Air March 2nd, 2026 

Evelyn Beeter and Wilson Justin of Chistochina have both been invited by the producers of "Molly Of Denali" to attend the Emmys at Lincoln Center on Broadway, Monday night, March 2nd, 2026. They were both part of an advisory group credited with the show's enormous national success. 

The Alaska-based TV show has garnered two Emmy nominations this year: Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Series, and Best Preschool Animated Series.

Molly of Denali is a cartoon show, notable in that it has portrayed Alaska Natives for the general public in a positive and interesting manner. It leaped onto the national scene on PBS and has been embraced throughout the country.

The show premiered in the summer of 2019, before Covid, and was the first American nationally distributed kids' show featuring an Alaska Native as the lead character. 

The show centered on many Alaska themes, including traditional dancing, snowboarding, wildfires, ATV safety, berry picking, gardening, making birch syrup, totem pole raising, the problems of permafrost and its impact on houses, gathering firewood, owning sled dogs, river trips, potlatching, going to the dentist, Native Heritage Month, outhouse races and more. 

Although Molly of Denali is supposed to be an Athabascan girl, the series draws storylines and themes from Native cultures throughout Alaska. 

The Copper River Valley has strong ties to the success of the program, beyond the involvement of Wilson Justin and Evelyn Beeter. 

Not long ago, Yatibaey Evans of Mentasta won another award for the show, as producer. (Her mother, Donna Galbreath, was the first Alaska Athabascan to become a medical doctor.)

A major character in the cartoon show, "Auntie Midge" is voiced by former Copper Valley resident Adeline Potts, mother of Jody Potts, who attended Glennallen High School. 

Adeline Potts, Christmas 1995. (Journal Archive)