Clad in a utility kilt, Joe Bailey takes in, and serves up, Celtic culture
“I will enjoy it,” he said of the event, which runs Oct. 5-6 this year at the Yamhill County Fairgrounds in McMinnville.
Bailey spends a whole week helping with the festival. He will help set up, then run and oversee volunteers working in the beverage tent all day Saturday and Sunday. After the festival closes, he’ll help clean up and take everything down.
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He won’t be away from his family as much as it seems: his wife, Jonielle, his daughter, Leah Huettl, and one of his grandkids, Molly Sue Ranger, all will be volunteering at the festival, as well.
Between his volunteer shifts, Bailey will have a chance to watch festival events, such as the Highland Games throwing competitions, the herding dog demonstrations, the display of shaggy Scottish cattle, the British car show and the Highland dancing.
Even while he’s pouring beer, he’ll be able to hear the Celtic music, since the stage will be right next door to the beverage tent.
“I’ll get to see it all, since I’ll be there from dawn to dusk,” he said.
Bailey grew up in New Orleans, surrounded by many people who spoke French, including his grandmother. But his name suggested he was Irish or British.
In recent years, he’s taken DNA tests that reveal he may be up to one-third Scottish, with Irish and Welsh heritage as well. Other tests say he’s a combination of English and northern European, Scandinavian and Scottish.
He’s done research and obtained several Scottish kilts, including tartans related to the Bailie/Bailey family, the Buchanan family on his mother’s side and the Navy, since he’s a veteran of military service. They are for important occasions.
He also owns “some utility kilts” to wear while working at the festival.
Bailey came to Oregon to visit his mother in Veneta. After moving to eastern Oregon, then Alaska, he settled in McMinnville in 1990.
He had worked with an airline ground handlers service in Alaska. Evergreen Aviation brought him to McMinnville, he said. “I like Mac. It’s a nice quaint little town,” he said.
He has worked at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills for more than 25 years.
Bailey has been involved with the Celtic Heritage Alliance, which hosts McMinnville’s annual Scottish Festival, for many years.
His good friend, the late Rick Drakeley, invited him to become involved in the Alliance and attend events such as whisky tastings and the Robert Burns Supper, which CHA hosts in January. After Drakeley died suddenly, Bailey became more involved and joined the board.
“I’ve had fun learning the culture and spending time with the others,” he said.
He does not take part in the Highland game competitions, though, he said with a self-deprecating laugh. “I’d have to have a category all my own,” he said.
Comments
Fiddler
Queen Victoria is responsible for the clan tartans. She personally chose each tartan for each clan. A tartan is the pattern, the kilt is a plaid. The plaid used to be 16 yards of woven fabric, laid on the ground with a belt under one portion and pleats made along the belt. The man would lie down on the fabric and draw the pleats around his waist and secure it all with the belt. The original tartan designs were indistinguishable between clans because the dyes were plant-based, and the same plants were found all over Scotland. The clans could tell each other apart by the feathers in their tams.
Fiddler
And, last time I was there I was told that Scots wouldn’t enter a store that sold clan tartans, let alone wear them.