FORT SMITH - Jim Green of Fort Smith, after a four-day warm-up at the third annual NACC Festival of Stories in Yellowknife last weekend, is getting ready to delight audiences in the South Slave.

Jim Green has been telling stories for decades. He performed last weekend at the third annual NACC Festival of Stories in Yellowknife and will perform this week in Fort Smith. - NNSL file photo

Despite having decades of storytelling under his belt, Smith has only mastered the art without reading off a page in the past year. This past weekend was his second time performing from memory at Yellowknife's festival.

"I went back last year and (it was) the first time in 30 years stepping out onstage without my crutches, and it was kinda spooky until I got to the microphone," he said. "Because once I get to the microphone, my storyteller guy just takes over and it was totally different from any performance I've ever had in my life. I had no idea what was going to happen. I just started to expand and float."

This week in Fort Smith, Green is one of five storytellers who will be entertaining around a campfire near the Northern Life Museum. Pat Braden and Scott McQueen are visiting town for the festival and two Fort Smith residents, Ria Coleman and Mary Heron, will also take part.

"I'm going to be telling stories, but I'll probably be emceeing as well," said Green, who is also expected to lead a workshop with Braden on Saturday afternoon.

"I'm going to be telling a story about a ski trip down to my cabin with a couple of slight detours," he said. "The first detour is to the South Pole with Admiral Scott in 1912."

The story continues on to take listeners away in their imaginations to Mount Everest, to a bus stop bench with Forrest Gump and dancing with Snow White as the seven dwarfs sing.

The imaginative storyteller is pleased about the event in Fort Smith.

"I'm really looking forward to the event down here in Fort Smith - it's the first time that we're having a storytelling deal down here," he said.

Green said "it's really a wonderful venue we've got" and said the stories will be told around a fire circle with benches.

"The poster even says bring your own pillow," he said.

The workshop he will host with Braden will take place at the Northern Life Museum between 2 and 3 p.m., and the storytelling will begin at 7:30 p.m.

"If people keep smiling we might just keep talking, put some more wood on the fire," he said.