Wearing kilts to a public event becomes acceptable  once a year, and one group is taking advantage of that tradition.
Kilts and Kisses is composed of a group of men who celebrate Irish culture, regardless of their heritage. The group kicked off the St. Patrick’s Day Wearin’ of the Green Parade in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
The group’s official name is “The Baton Rouge Almost Irish Marching Club” and was started by Lance LaPlace, Jim Smith, Ed Wedge, Jay LeBlanc and Maury Chatellier, who are now board members of the group.
The main goal of the group is to provide a family-friendly experience and get as many smiles as they can out of parade-goers.
Kilts and Kisses achieves this by walking up to people and placing beads around their necks, handing out carnations, stickers or stuffed animals and, of course, giving a few pecks on revelers’ cheeks.
“We have a piper, and we try to play Irish music, so you might grab somebody and do a little whirl,” Smith said. “The whole purpose is to have a good time.”
The group reasons that because everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, they might as well have some fun with it. Apart from St. Patrick’s Day being a fun-filled event, members of Kilts and Kisses enjoy seeing their families and friends along the route.
The club stems from a similar one based out of New Orleans, which was started by Marty Tittlebaum, a former University engineering professor about 15 years ago. Tittlebaum first told Chatellier about the New Orleans group, which marched in the Irish Channel Parade, and asked him to invite as many of his friends as he wanted.
“In New Orleans it was about 3,000 walking guys in their kilts, and after that would be the parade and the floats,” LaPlace said. “We did that for about five or six years and it was a blast.”
But once everyone began having families, they realized travelling all the way to New Orleans was more of a task than an enjoyable outing — and harder to get back safely at night — and decided to bring the tradition to Baton Rouge.
“We met together and talked, and it just came over drinks one night,” Chatellier added. “We just decided to give it a shot.”
Since then, the group has garnered a regular following with a group of 75-100 off and on members.
The group has been active in the parade for six years, but about three years ago, the board members made an agreement with parade organizers Pat Shingleton and Robert “Grey” Hammett to allow them to march separately from the parade.
While they aren’t involved in the parade itself, they are part of the entity as a whole, starting off the morning with their march and getting visitors pumped up for the upcoming floats.
“What we do is walk around and mingle. We interact with the crowd, which is something the parade doesn’t really have,” Chatellier said.
Attire for the event includes a Black Watch tartan, unless a member is Irish, then they are allowed to wear their family tartan, green cummerbund and matching bowtie, a white shirt and a black tailcoat.
Aside from the parade, other events include monthly meetings, membership socials, a golf tournament fundraiser and a practice march the week before the parade, which involves a pub crawl.
In past fundraisers, the group has donated to Pat’s Coats for Kids and hopes to include events for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and nursing homes in the future. The group’s goal is to become a non-profit organization so they can give back funds they raise to the community as well.
“It really started out as just a fun time for a group of guys, and now it’s turned into more of a focus on the interaction,” Chatellier said.
When asked about the experience gained from joining, Chatellier said jokingly, “Besides a Jameson shot at 7 in the morning?”
Membership is open to everyone, and annual dues are $75. Members receive medallions with their paid dues to wear on parade day.
For more information on how to join, visit the group’s website at kiltsandkisses.webs.com.
You can reach Ashlyn Rollins on Twitter @ash_r96.

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