Alrighty then...

Aside from family events, rennfaires, celtic fests, Highlander games, I haven't worn my kilt in public.
Until now...

Last night, was the opening night of the annual carnival, in my boyhood town. Additionally, my niece was to be presented with a scholarship, from the town band, at the carnival. Mary & I decided we'd break our norm of avoiding this town/fair, and trek on over to the little burg.
So, I wore my plain black kilt, with a black sporran, belt, jump boots and a grey "Lake George Choppers" T-shirt. Wife said it was a good look for me ('course, she's a tad biased).

Now, a bit of background: this is a town of 1000 residents, very rural, very colloquial, and extremely set in their ways. Very stereotypical small-minded-blinders-on hick historical town stuff. The carnival is BIG time for a lot of these natives. Kind of comical, actually. Should write a book about the antics around there... nobody would believe it.

OK, wife and I park our folding chairs in front of the band shell, with the other fogeys. Quite a mixed bag of responses...mostly positive.

The younger crowd, 30 and under, barely noticed. When they did several asked if I was "into the rennfaire scene", and asked questions... thought it was cool.

The 30-50 crowd ranged from mildly intrigued, to snickering. I won't go into the breakdown, but it followed stereotypical expectations of who snickered and who was interested. Some questions regarding the "kilted scene"... Still mostly positive.

The older "deeply imbedded local gentry", however, were not amused. Most pointed, frowned, whispered & stared. In fact, there were several older gentlemen who "kept an eye on me" during the whole concert & presentation. None came forth to question me, but by their reactions, you'd swear I just denounced my country & burned a flag. Pretty amusing, when you consider the rich Scot-Irish history of the area.

So there you have it... Tony's 1st venture into the general public, as a kilted lad. Quite positive, overall... I'm hooked.