After two years when public health protocols forced cancellation of scheduled events, community Kilt Skates will return to Montreal and Calgary.

Both cities have kilt skate legacies going back to the first national kilt skate in 2015. Each year they brought together skaters for an afternoon of celebrating Scottish culture on the ice.

But in 2021, as with other Scottish organizations across Canada, the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal and the St. Andrew-Caledonian Society of Calgary cancelled their events. Both tried to return to community events at the beginning of this year, but once again the spread of Covid variants forced cancellations.

This year, they’re confident that the show will go on for the 2023 kilt skate season.

The Montreal event will be held indoors at the Verdun Auditorium on Boulevard LaSalle from 3-5 pm on Sunday, January 29. The event is free and there will be cake and hot chocolate available, but participants need to register beforehand. The St. Andrew’s Society has provided a registration form on its website. Participants are advised to use it to register before January 13. After that date, participants will need to register instead on the city’s sign-up site, which is not available until two days before the skate date.

The Calgary event will be held once again outdoors at the Olympic Plaza downtown from noon to 4 pm on Sunday, February 12. This year it will be included as one of the festivities of Calgary’s three-week winter festival, Chinook Blast (Jan 27-Feb 12.) As with Montreal, the Calgary kilt skate events are noted for their hospitality with cake and hot chocolate. Firepits are available to help skaters warm themselves off the ice.

With the skate in Concord, New Hampshire, scheduled for February 5, we now have three community events confirmed for 2023 and we expect further announcements in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for further details and for news of the Scottish Society of Ottawa’s plans to coordinate the Great Canadian Kilt Skate on a national basis.