new to the forum from the upper midwest

**JRB** · 30th July 25, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by geomick

Thanks.

Are you going to the Games in Waukesha next month?

Possibly. I'm not sure what my schedule is yet. I used to go every year, but I haven't been since, maybe, 2018.

**Kiltedjohn** · 30th July 25, 02:28 PM

Welcome from a Scotsman living in the English Midlands.

**Mr Cooper** · 30th July 25, 04:48 PM

Welcome from another new member here!

**jsrnephdoc** · 31st July 25, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by grizzbass

I often thought of getting a great kilt but summer (which includes spring and fall here) are brutal but maybe some day..

I've just moved from Montana (your username suggests you may be acquainted with the local fauna) to Las Vegas. Now, THAT is hot. Paradoxically, when Las Vegans step out in the evening they're often overjoyed to escape the brutality of the indoor air conditioning. However, I imagine my kilting will diminish greatly between early June and mid September. I did purchase a nice tweed waistcoat from St. Kilda in Glasgow to hide my suspenders if I ATTEMPT encasing myself in a wool 8 yarder.

I've been to the local Celtic Society's website, but it appears comatose, and I fear the late spring highland games that used to be well attended here are no more. Perhaps I'll at LEAST be able to find a Burns Supper in January.

**geomick** · 31st July 25, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by JRB

Possibly. I'm not sure what my schedule is yet. I used to go every year, but I haven't been since, maybe, 2018.

hopefully you'll be able to attend

**JRB** · 31st July 25, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by geomick

hopefully you'll be able to attend

I think it would be fun. I really miss wearing my kilts. Being originally from the northeast, I've been really disappointed (over the past 13 years) at how much less Scottish/Celtic culture (or pride?) exists in the midwest.

**geomick** · 31st July 25, 07:19 PM

This year, I will attend a total of 3 Scottish Games (Milwaukee (Franklin WI) and Chicago (Wheaton IL) happened in June).

August/September will be 2 "Irish" Festivals (Milwaukee Irish Fest in 2 weeks and Irish Fest of the Fox Cities in Appleton in Sep). There are a couple of good Celtic music fests in OH I may attend some year. Had conflicting plans or I would have gone to the Madison area fest this year.

A lot depends on other plans and how far you are willing to drive. The Chicago-area games is the largest I've visited. Looking forward to Grandfather Mountain next year.

**EagleJCS** · 1st August 25, 05:34 AM

Originally Posted by JRB

I think it would be fun. I really miss wearing my kilts. Being originally from the northeast, I've been really disappointed (over the past 13 years) at how much less Scottish/Celtic culture (or pride?) exists in the midwest.

I have a theory about why there is a perceived lack of interest/pride in one's ancestral culture in the Midwest in general, but it's too much to get into in a welcome thread and far from the discussion of kilts (and the paraphernalia and cultural history that goes with them), which is the intent of this website. It's a complex, multi-faceted subject that takes more than a pat explanation.

Welcome to XMarks, Geomick.

Some of my ancestors on my mother's side (her father's family) settled in Port Washington, WI in the late 1850's and spread out into Milwaukee and then down to Chicago, where my mother was born.

**CBH** · 2nd August 25, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc

I've just moved from Montana (your username suggests you may be acquainted with the local fauna) to Las Vegas. N

I feel like you'd have a dedicated post for something this big. I thought you moved to MT fairly recently ? Gone so soon ? There's got to be a story here....

**jsrnephdoc** · 2nd August 25, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by CBH

I feel like you'd have a dedicated post for something this big. I thought you moved to MT fairly recently ? Gone so soon ? There's got to be a story here....

Pretty simple, actually. We left California because of medical and financial problems attendant to losing our house in the "Tubbs" wildfire in 2017, but arrived in Montana almost at the same time as the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. We never managed to rekindle the sort of relationships we'd enjoyed in California, for MANY, MANY reasons, and when we visited a daughter who's a realtor who's lived in Las Vegas for almost 2 decades in May, she took us to visit a 55 and older residential community where the residents were ecstatic about all the social interactions enabled by the amenities in the community—so here we are.