The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus — sometimes catalogued under its more breath-friendly designation IKoC — is the only known Mardi Gras parade organisation that simultaneously qualifies as a religion, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and a low-grade interstellar incident. Most of what follows is, in the strictest sense, true. The rest is simply insisted upon, which in Chewbacchus circles is generally close enough.
Should the reader require academic verification, a remarkably thorough Wikipedia entry exists, and is by Carnival standards embarrassingly comprehensive.
The formula, for those who appreciate things put plainly, reduces to:
Bacchanalian Revelry + Sci Fi = BacchanALIENS
(There has been some discussion among scholars as to whether the equation strictly balances. It does not. Everyone involved is having too good a time to care.)
The mission of the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus is to save the galaxy by giving the disenfranchised, socially awkward, and generally weird masses access to the magical revelry of Carnival. With open, low-cost membership and green parading practices, we strive to honor Our Sacred Drunken Wookiee. Through our works, we hope to elevate all aspects of fandom and celebrate Carnival in our unique way.
(Recorded here verbatim, and reproduced without alteration. Any apparent dignity is intentional.)
The Krewe is composed, in roughly equal proportion, of Star Wars freaks, Trekkies, Whovians, mega-geeks, gamers, cosplayers, circuit benders, cryptozoologists, UFO conspiracy theorists, mad scientists, and a long tail of super-nerds yet to be properly classified. Annual dues are deliberately low and structured to reward the punctual: hesitation is taxed in cash. Aspiring ChewbacchanALIENs should consult the relevant entry, Become a ChewbacchanALIEN, for the procedural details.
The Krewe is, depending on whom one asks, either the future of revelry or simply the only parade that bothered to read the climate report. By long-standing constitutional principle, IKoC operates as the first truly open-source parade — with an aggressive bias toward DIY, homemade, and sustainable materials, and a polite, organisational distaste for anything that arrives shrink-wrapped from a factory.
All fandoms are accepted in good faith. Aspiring contraptioneers may build, pull, pedal, or push more or less anything that obeys the foundational propulsion clause: namely, that it must be pushed, pedalled, pulled, or electric-powered. (Particle propulsion is also accepted; documentation is encouraged, and reactor shielding, for everyone’s sake, required.)
The historical fleet has included tricycles, shopping carts, robotic power chairs, rickshaws, golf carts, a converted ice-cream van, several rolling bookshelves, and at least one device the engineers refused to name on the record. New entries are added each year. The Guide does not attempt to keep up.
In place of plastic beads — which are, frankly, somebody else’s parade — IKoC members hand-craft an impressive variety of objects to bestow upon the gathered masses. A few have become unmistakably the Krewe’s: