Celtic Activities in Full Swing

Last weekend was the Dayton Celtic Fest. It ran Friday night through Sunday. This is a free event to the public and very well attended. They had three stages setup and music playing all the time. Gaelic Storm was there along with local bands such as "Father, Sons and Friends" and "Dulahan". A new group, first time in Ohio, to attend was "The Rovers" out of Maryland. I missed last year so I made sure I attended this year. I was there all three days. I had a very good time. I think there were more kilts there this year then when I attended year before last. Most were contemporary kilts such as the Utilikilt. Utilikilt had a booth as did Got Kilt. What I like about having Utilikilt there is I get a chance to examine the various kilts they sell in person. I am not in the market for one at the moment but I made some mental notes for when I am ready for another Utilikilt. I will make sure I keep the calendar free for next year's show.

This weekend is the Dublin Irish Fest in Dublin, Ohio (Columbus). I did not make this year's show. This show is larger than Dayton. It is also well worth attending.

If you have a Celtic fest in your area try to attend and listen to the bands. You will have a good time. Don't forget to wear the kilt!

Today was also the British Car Show in Eastwood Lake Park in Dayton. I attended the show today. There were around 400 cars on display. This is one of the best British car shows in the area but you never hear anything about it on the news. I found out about it by accident last year looking through the park directory for summer activities. Saw a listing for the car show. Surprised me as I had never heard of it. I attended last year and was surprised at the number of cars entered. Being a British show you have the normal MG, Jag, Morris, etc on display. I enjoy the display of the original Mini's. I was the only one in a kilt that I could see. Last year there were a couple of us in kilts.

On the way home I stopped at the grocery store. I heard a lady behind me say "I wanted to go to Scotland and now Scotland comes to me". I turned around and had a nice chat with a lady that wants to tour Scotland. I had on my "good girls don't ask" t-shirt. That t-shirt is a good ice breaker too.

Concert and Reunion

On Friday I attended the Weird Al Yankovic concert in Kettering (Dayton) at the Fraze. I wore my box pleat AlphaKilt and expected I would be the only one in a kilt. Got a "nice kilt" comment from a lady as I got near the gate. So far normal reactions. Once I got in the gate I spotted a Cameo kilt. Wow! this was the second kilt sighting in the wild this year. Dayton is coming up in the world. I walked over and introduced myself. Matt was wearing a kilt his wife made. Nice to know there are other "kilties" in Dayton. We could not chat long as it was time to get to our seats. My seat was next to a boy about 14 years old. He gave me a "what the #@^$ is that" look as I sat down. The concert was good. It was the first time for me to hear Weird Al on stage. I left via the side exit so I did not see Matt on my way out.

Now it is Saturday and I time for my 35th high school reunion. This was a casual event so I wore my American Heritage tartan USAKilt with a red shirt. I was sure this would surprise some of my former classmates but I figured it would be a good ice breaker. My class size was over 500 and this crowd was not the group I hung around with. We had about 175 at the event. Again, I expected to be the only one in a kilt. Wrong again. So now we have kilt number three in the wild. One of my classmates, that I did not remember, was wearing a contemporary kilt. I am not sure who it was made by. I wanted to talk to him to find out who he was. Was not sure if he was a classmate or a spouse of a classmate. He was on the other side of the floor and by the time I got over there he was gone. Someone else told me who he was and that he was unable to stay for the event. He was a classmate but I don't remember him. I sent him an email via Facebook so I will see if he responds.

The kilt was a great ice breaker at the reunion. As the evening went on and the ladies were influenced by a little alcohol it got even better! Gosh, in high school if someone told them that 35 years in the future they would be asking Mike what he had under the kilt they would have up-chucked at the thought.

Tomorrow is my local community parade, car show, and craft show. Will be kilted for that of course.

Kilts on a regular basis has its advantages

I frequent a local restaurant a couple of times a week. At least once a week I wear my kilt. That is normally on Friday evening. The staff on Friday appear to be the same ones every week for the most part. There are two that take a particular interest in the kilt. I got one of them tonight as my waitress. The other stopped by and and thanked me for wearing the kilt as she liked it. It appears she likes the USAKilt American Heritage tartan the best which is what I had on tonight. Wore it with a red shirt, black kilt hose, and red flashes. Tonight the kilt got more comments and looks from patrons than in the past. I did get a couple of "where is the bag pipe" questions. I guess that is better than the "other" question.

As I was finishing both of the young ladies walked up to me. I knew I was about to be asked something so for a few seconds I had to wait in suspense until they asked. You get that "oh crap they are going to ask me some thing" feeling. Turned out to be a simple question. They asked about tartan associations. Ok, simple enough, and I hope I answered them to their satisfaction and correctly.

When you wear a kilt on a regular basis the staff starts to know you and they feel more comfortable asking questions and making comments.

Tonight's experience was a good start to the weekend. I think this will be a good one.

Kilt ON!

Kilt + Convention

Over the weekend I attended an annual convention I have been going to for a number of years. In the past I always wore pants and never considered mixing a kilt into the convention until this year. Some of this group know I wear kilts but many have never seen me in one. This year that all changed. I wore a kilt, either a traditional or a contemporary, for the entire weekend. The result? I think it was positive. Only one vendor booth I passed generated a few laughs from the guys staffing the booth. They were speaking with an accent that I could not identify. Got some smiles from the ladies. In one case the lady was a piper. I had on a USAKilts semi-traditional at the time. She was looking for a lighter weight kilt for summer as all of hers were 16 oz wool. I pointed her to USAKilts for a PV semi-traditional. She did not know they made kilts out of PV (poly-viscose). For the contemporary kilts a few asked if I had on a Utilikilt. No, mine are are from Alphakilt. Two guys that asked if I had a Utilikilt were considering getting one or someone in their family was looking at them. Got a couple of "under the kilt" questions or comments.

As for others in a kilt, not this year. In the past there was someone from Florida that wore a kilt to the convention. Have not seen him for a couple of years.

I think I will make the kilt a standard form of dress at this convention going forward. Maybe some of the others that talked about the Utilikilt will bring theirs next year. If I can do it so can they.

Kilt On!

Saw Another Kilt!

I was driving home from a friends place this morning. Much to my surprise a young man walking down the sidewalk was wearing a black Utilikilt. He was walking with a young woman in my direction. It had been raining this morning so he was carrying a long umbrella. Unfortunately, I was in the wrong lane to pull into a parking lot. I would have liked to talk to him to see how often he wear the kilt and if he belongs to any of the kilt discussion groups. It is nice to see someone else in a kilt. Normally around here you see plenty of kilts at Celtic fests, St. Patty's day, etc. These guys just don't have the guts to wear one when they can't attach some excuse to doing so.

Changing topics. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of Geocaching. The local Geocaching group is having a picnic. Unfortunately it is going to be raining so I hope the shelter is large enough to keep us dry. As usual I will be wearing one of my contemporary kilts. Not sure which one but I will have one of them. I even have a new t-shirt. It reads "Real men cache in kilts". Shows a cartoon drawing of a man in kilt next to a Geocach ammo can.

KILT ON!

Positive Comments

Two evenings about a week apart I went to dinner at a local cafeteria. I have gone there often for several years but mostly wearing pants. I have increased my attendance in kilts over the last six months. I believe I have talked about comments from this place before. This cafeteria is attended by an older crowd. For years I noticed an older man, by himself, eating dinner and reading a book. This guy looks familiar as I believe he was a member of a computer users group I belonged to many years ago. I never knew his name. I walked into the place wearing my USAKilts semi-traditional kilt in the Holyrood tartan. I sat on the other side of the room from where he was seated. I had to walk past his table to get to the other side. He did not appear to pay any attention to me. As I was eating dinner I noticed he stopped one of the waitress and pointed in my direction. I was not sure if he was actually commenting on the kilt or if that was just my imagination. I finished my dinner and was walking out. He got up ahead of me and went to the door. He waited at the door for me to walk through. At that point he made a comment about the kilt. He said he could identify about 30 tartans but not the one I had on. I told him it was a more modern tartan so that explained why he did not recognize it. He asked if I was attending any function. No, I just decided I wanted to wear my kilt. He was a little surprised by my answer. Not that he had any problem with it. He just never thought to wear kilt except for some function. He told me he had a Royal Stewart and use to belong to a few Scottish organizations. We chatted for about 15 minutes. As for the conversation with the waitress, he told me he asked if I got a discount for wearing my kilt. If so, he said he would wear his. I am sure we will have more conversations about his interest in kilts and Scottish culture in the future as I see him in the place a lot. I still don't know that man's name. I am bad with names anyway.

As I was chatting with the older man a lady came up and asked what tartan I was wearing. I told her and gave her a little history about it. So that night I had two very good experiences that would not have occurred if it was not for the kilt.

The next time I went to the cafeteria I had on my USAKilts semi-traditional kilt in the American Heritage tartan, blue shirt, and blue kilt hose. I sat down and was almost finished with dinner when a lady that had been sitting with her husband about 20 feet away walked over to me. I saw her walking in my direction and knew she going to say something. She asked about the tartan and said their family had Gordon and Williams in the family tree. She complemented me on the look.

Two great evenings out for dinner in the kilt!

No Kilt, No Service

The month of February was rather cold in this part of the country. I got tired of the cold and did not go out much at least in the kilt. Warmer weather is now upon us so I have been enjoying more "kilt" time. I eat out a lot and one of the regular places I frequent I am in a kilt maybe 50% of the time. It is obvious they recognize me as the kilt guy. Last Friday I walked in with my USAKilt in the Holyrood tartan. I got some attention from the staff; more so then in the past. As I was seated the waitress brought out my ice tea without being asked. That is what I always order. That is the first time that has happened. Last night I went back there but in (heaven forbid) pants. This time no ice tea on being seated. I guess no kilt, no service.

To make up for the lack of kilt wearing during February I spent all of Saturday and Sunday running errands in my AlphaKilt. We will be even warmer this weekend but I have work duties that may limit my activities.