LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - The 10th annual Open Sky Festival is now only two months away.

This year's festival will be its busiest in terms of content, said Tracy Kovalench, the OSC's programming co-ordinator.

Tamara Deneyoua-Nahanni, right, Stephanie DePelham and Jamie Deneyoua-Nahanni make a craft at 2008's Open Sky Festival. This year's festival is set to kickoff on June 21, with weekend festivities taking place from June 25 to 27. - NNSL file photo

"There's so much going on this year," said Kovalench.

While 2008 also saw the village host the National Aboriginal Art Funders Gathering, "this festival, I would say, is the biggest, standing on its own."

A number of new programs will be unrolled at this year's festival, which will not only take place from June 21 to 27.

Some ideas, including a moosehide-tanning workshop, were generated during an open house held by the society in late January.

"We had requests from various community members to provide one. We actually brought Kathy Mouse at the time (to host a workshop)," said Kovalench.

Mouse, a former Fort Simpson resident now living in Hay River, will return to the village to host a workshop during the week of the festival.

"Something else that was suggested was more programming for men, because it seems that a large percentage of our (workshop) audience is female or youth. So we're bringing in Michael Cazon this year."

Cazon, also from Fort Simpson, will host a workshop on creating miniature traditional tools.

Cazon will also be one of 10 artists featured in the first-ever Fort Simpson arts walk. Each artist's work will be displayed at a business or organization in the community from the start of the festival until Aug. 31.

The occupants of each office will then host audience members who come in to see the work.

"We're creating an arts walk map, so visitors can come to the gallery, which is the first stop on the walk, and pick up a map," said Kovalench.

Another workshop, hosted by Phoebe Punch and Norma Jumbo of Trout Lake, will show attendees how to harvest traditional materials - and not theoretically.

"Normally we've hosted workshops where the materials have already been supplied to people," said Kovalench. "This year, we're going to take a group of festivalgoers into the bush to show them how to cut up the birch bark or dig up the roots."

Last year's festival attracted approximately 200 visitors every day, according to Kovalench.