Ireland figures in his ancestral history, the 2007 Krewe of Kilarney St. Patrick said Tuesday. He admits a touch of Scots and English blood, as well.

But on St. Patrick’s Day, Kirk Bartley will be 100 percent Irish, he pledged, as he showed off his shamrock vest and his green coat completed the day before by a Natchez tailor.

St. Patrick will lead the St. Patrick’s Day parade Saturday. Lineup is 5 p.m. at the Main Street Marketplace, corner of Main and Rankin streets. The parade will begin at 5:30.

Following the tradition of the krewe, the parade will march down Main Street to the bluff, where St. Patrick ceremoniously will order all snakes into the river.

All in the community are welcome to join the parade, as the krewe’s philosophy is that “Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” Bartley said.

Bartley was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Texas. He married Irish, he said. And he married into a Natchez family.

“Judy is an Irish girl and a Natchez girl,” he said. The Bartleys settled in her hometown about 10 years ago after Kirk’s retirement from an orthopedic business in the Brandon area.

“This has always been so much fun since we came back to Natchez,” Judy said. She is the former Judy Pitchford.

“It’s a good club. We don’t meet every month, only a couple of times a year,” she said. “And everything we do is for charity and for scholarships.”

What’s more, since the parade always happens during the Pilgrimage season, “it’s one more event for the tourists to enjoy,” she said.

The generosity of Natchez families for fundraisers such as the Krewe of Kilarney auction, held at another time of the year, has impressed him, Bartley said.

“That is our underlying reason for doing all this,” he said. “It’s for very worthwhile causes.”

Money raised by the krewe goes to scholarships for seniors in all five high schools in Natchez and Vidalia and to help support Pleasant Acre Day School and Holy Family Catholic School.

Bartley said he tried retirement when he and his wife first moved to Natchez. “Those were the two most miserable years of my life,” he said. “I enjoy good health. I had to get involved.”

He serves on the City Planning Commission and takes part in the Historic Natchez Pageant. He is a member of the Downtown Development Association and is involved in other community work.

Monday through Friday, he opens the office at Dunleith Plantation, where he works half a day. “That is the most fun place to work,” he said. “I meet the most interesting people in the world, and the Worleys are very generous with me to let me have time when I need it to do the things I do.”

Mike Worley and his father, Ed Worley, are owners of Dunleith. “Mr. Ed calls me ‘Mr. Ambassador,’” Bartley said. That is based on Bartley’s reputation for meeting and greeting visitors to the historic inn with enthusiasm.

Bartley remembers well his first visit to Natchez. “It was 1969. I drove around town, went down to the bandstand and thought what a charming town and what a gorgeous view of the river,” he said.

Suddenly, he heard music in the distance. It turned out to be the calliope playing on the Delta Queen steamboat approaching the Natchez landing. “It was like slipping back in time,” he said.

Not only has he been impressed by the generosity and friendliness of the people of Natchez, Bartley also has observed the improvement of relationships between black and white residents of the city.

“There may still be pockets of problems, but overall there are a lot of good things going on,” he said.

Further, he sees the city on “the cusp of some great economic changes. But my only concern is that we don’t let the city lose its charm.”