Home Edition Week 2 -- A River to Skate Away On

These past weeks of continued pandemic, some provincial governments have tightened their public health protocols, urging people to stay indoors and stay isolated. In Ontario, the list of reasons to leave home includes exercise, and local governments add their own restrictions on how and where to do it. If you’re going to skate, they caution, do it locally. Well, you can’t get more local than the stream that runs through your property in South Glengarry — now frozen so that, as Joni Mitchell longed for, you have a river you can skate away on.

And that’s what the Carlisle family did: Nigel and Kaylee , joined by their parents Craig and Lori.. They donned their kilts and tartans and hashtagged their posts with #kiltskate2021GLEN so that their skate on their own personal river would score in Glengarry’s effort to win the title of Kilt Skate Capital of Canada for the third year running. The two Glengarry townships — North and South — alternate hosting the Great Canadian Kilt Skate each winter. This year it’s North Glengarry’s turn and the local media have been keen promoters of a Kilt Skate Capital hat trick and have been publicizing the Great Canadian Kilt Skate — Home Edition.

A thousand miles away, Winnipeg is striving hard to wrest the Kilt Skate Capital crown. Here’s another place where it’s easy to find a river you can skate away on. In fact, Winnipeg boasts that it has the longest skating rink in the world — encompassing the Red and the Assiniboine Rivers and the Forks where the two rivers meet. It’s all brought together as the Winnipeg Foundation Centennial River Trail.

Winnipeg offers other options to those who want to skate locally. For the Windsor family, it’s a matter of going down to the Lakewood pond just beyond the back gate.

Samantha Windsor — a longtime fan of Winnipeg’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate — tagged her photos #kiltskate2021WPG so they would be added to Winnipeg’s tally in the contest to be named Canada’s Kilt Skate Capital.

When it comes to natural outdoor ice, Winnipeg and Ottawa compete with each other for global bragging rights. Winnipeg claims the longest skating rink in the world; Ottawa the largest — the Rideau Canal Skateway.

Reports indicate that the canal may open soon for the 2021 season. The National Capital Commission which manages the Skateway says will require skaters to wear masks, but a skater’s knees may be bare it seems. That’s the spirit of the Great Canadian Kilt Skate — Home Edition: “Our faces may be masked, but our knees will be bare.” But like Winnipeg, Ottawa has several options for those who want to skate locally. The Ottawa River’s ice is too treacherous for skating, but at the Britannia Conservation Area, Ottawa River backwaters form Mud Lake which, at this time of year, is ideal for skating.

Skating here, as in South Glengarry and Winnipeg, requires some volunteer effort.

But the results are well worth it.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, the indominable David Johnston, Volunteer Director of the Scottish Society of Ottawa, contemplated the best way to abide by the stay-at-home protocols. It was David who began the kilt skate season last week by bringing his skates and bagpipes as well as his kilt to the city rink at Lansdowne Park.

Now that the Province and the City have placed restrictions on movements, the ever-resourceful David has found a new way to skate, pipe, and display his tartans.

David hashtagged his post #kiltskate2021OTT, but the contest judges have yet to weigh in on whether they’ll include rollerblade skating as well as ice skating for the Kilt Skate Capital of Canada. Who knows? Maybe this year we’ll see yet another innovation from the Scottish Society of Ottawa: the Great Canadian Kilt Skate — Summer Edition!

Remember, to include your photos or videos in the tally, include the following hashtags:

• #kiltskate2021YOURCITY

• #OttScot

• #ScotlandIsNow