I've got to chime in about wearing the kilt to last year's South Side Irish St. Pat's Parade...

...I have this pretty nice one-off wool blend Gordon from Stillwater so I figgered that it would be a good one to wear to last year's parade. Since the parade route is about a half/three quarters of a mile from home, walking seemed about right. Wife and I took off and I must have had two "nice kilts" from women that we encountered on the way and about five nasty insults from guys who were on porches and in back yards getting some pre-parade lubrication on...Bud (the king of beers) being the preferred lubricant.

Got there and stood in the crowd. The standard dress for men my age seemed to be jeans, an Irish Fisherman's sweater and a tweed cap...or one of several very clever Guinness hats none of which, I think, any self-respecting member of this forum would be caught dead in...particularly the one that looks (how jolly!) like you have a large felt pint of the Black Stuff balanced on yore haid. Being generally gregarious, I chatted with a few of the folks around us and when they turned and saw the kilt they just kinda did a little double take and got that "what the...?" look on their faces. Plenty of kilts IN the parade, mind you...several guys marching with their families wearing kilts...most of which were either Black Watch, Royal Stewart or Black Stewart...I didn't see any of the Irish County Tartans or any variation on Irish National...just the "generic" tartans.

So I take a "proceed with caution" approach.

I'd certainly wear a kilt to a bar or pub downtown and maybe one or two of the bars down here. I'd certainly wear it to the big parade downtown...last year I ran into a mere handful of other kilties while attending that parade and there was that instant big smile and high-five between all of us because WE had the testicular fortitude to WEAR the kilt and all of the unkilted around us had to stare in envy! Got to meet up with RKRex and Mrs. Rex and a few other folks and get a few beers at the only place we could find that wasn't packed to the gills: a gyros place over on Grand Avenue.

Down here on the South Side, I'll watch my back, though. Unfortunately, too many of the descendants of the Emerald Isle that live in these here parts seem to think that the day is an excuse to get plastered and engage in stupidity. If you should get hauled into court, they reason, your defense is, "Your honor, I'm Irish, it was St. Patricks Day and I ws drunk." "Case dismissed!", says Judge O'Connor (played by Barry Fitzgerald)...woe unto them, however if the get Judge Kowalski or Judge Ramirez.

All this is saying (in my usual long winded and sarcastic way), it'd be nice if it always went like this:

St. Pat's reveler: "Whya wearing a kilt?"

Kilted Fella: "Oh...it's St. Pat's and I'm wearin' the kilt to celebrate and honor my Celtic Irish brothers and sister."

Reveler: "Why, that's just downright nice of you...and I am deeply honored that you took all the trouble to look so good on the holiday. Let us get a beer and toast the Saint and the Irish and the Scots and everybody who's Celtic and everybody else, for that matter...for life is good."

...but I always seem to run into at least one wise-guy, so don't be surprised if you get some hassles...just stay good natured and maintain an even strain.

Best

AA