In fairness to these folks, I wonder if some of these people simply wanted to get out of their kilt after being in it for a weekend? When I was doing Civil War reenacting almost every weekend during my undergraduate days in university, after wearing wool uniforms for the better part of three days, you wanted to have a nice shower & then change into clean clothing. Others might only wear the kilt at festivals because of first-time jitters, etc., but as Dave said, that's all right. At least they're wearing the kilt!

And as far as the "locals" being aware of festivals, don't bet on it. I can't tell you how many times at a reenactment when we made a "beer run" into town in our uniforms and being met with stares and questions like "Are y'all some sort of Amish folks?" (Yes, militant Amish!) And these were small towns, mind you.

Cheers,

Todd