A Canadian actor who’s found fame in America through a goofy T-V show about a fictional fishing lodge will appear in eastern Iowa this holiday weekend to raise money for charity.

Steve Smith is known to millions as the namesake of “The Red Green Show,” which airs on P-B-S stations in Iowa and across the U-S. Smith explains what he’ll be doing in Dubuque’s Five Flags Center on Saturday at 8 P-M: “I get up and just ramble away about my view of life and hopefully it’s enlightening and entertaining or..at least we’ll kill some time.”

Smith will be doing his stand-up and Q-and-A session as part of Dubuque’s Festival of Trees, which benefits Mercy Medical Center’s Rural Outreach Program. It provides assistance to medically underprivileged rural families in the Tri-State area.

Smith explains how he ended up being a guest at this event.”I really like the cause. They’re…trying to take medical care into some of the rural areas where people can’t necessarily get at it easily. Of course, my fan base needs hospitalization on a regular basis and tend to be rural so it just seemed like a perfect fit to me.” One of the most popular segments of the show is Handyman’s Corner where Red demonstrates various uses for duct tape, which Smith says is the handyman’s secret weapon.

Now in its 19th year, Dubuque’s Festival of Trees has generated more than $600,000 to help hundreds of low-income rural area families with medical, dental and prescription drug needs. For more information on the Festival, call (563) 589-8113 or for tickets to the event, call 563-326-1111.