This is the tenth year in which skaters have celebrated their Scottish heritage by taking to the ice in tartans and kilts. It was a big year: 13 communities posted their events on this website.

Among those 13, four were scheduled by organizations preparing their first-ever kilt skate. We hope to see them return in future years!

But 2024 was an unusually warm winter in parts of North America, and this provided challenges to several organizers. Unsafe ice conditions led to cancellations of the kilt skates in Concord NH and Orillia ON.

Over the decade, Montreal has had to reschedule kilt skates —because of blizzards, rather than warm fronts. Montreal has consequently held its annual kilt skate in indoor arenas. And that’s where they launched the 2024 kilt skate season with an event on January 28.

Next up, on February 3, was Toronto. In past years, Toronto events had been held outdoors at Nathan Phillips Square and indoors at hockey arenas. This year, new organizers chose a new venue: the skating rink at Evergreen Brick Works.

The following weekend saw the Great Canadian Kilt Skate return to Calgary where, since 2015 the event has been held at the Olympic Plaza. For the second year running, Calgary’s kilt skate has been included as part of the Chinook Blast winter festival.

The following weekend at the other end of the country, another kilt skate was tied into a winter carnival: Moncton NB’s PolarFest. It was Moncton’s second annual event, held out on the Muskrat Trail of Centennial Park.

The Ottawa Valley is the heartland of kilt skating, and this year, four kilt skates were organized in the region. One of them in Russell ON had to be cancelled for reasons unrelated to the weather. On February 17 (the same day as Moncton’s event) the first ever kilt skate in Renfrew County was held on outdoor ice in Pembroke ON.

The very next day (Sunday, February 18) 150 kms down the road from Pembroke, the 10th annual Great Canadian Kilt was held in the birthplace of kilt skating: Ottawa ON.

In many provinces, the following day (Monday, February 19) was a holiday, and in Antigonish NS the organizers took advantage of the long weekend to host its second annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate.

For the Sunday (February 25) three kilt skates were scheduled in communities in three different provinces. In the Ottawa Valley, the biannual South Glengarry kilt skate was held at the hockey arena in Williamstown ON — the third of the four Ottawa Valley events.

Later that afternoon, about 500 kms south and west, Fergus ON held another in its series of flag-waving kilt skates at the Centre Wellington Sportsplex.

The third of the kilt skates scheduled for that day was originally to be held in Winnipeg MB on February 11. But that weekend’s warm weather rendered the Riley Family Duck Pond at Assiniboia Park unskateable. Rather than cancel outright, the organizers rescheduled for February 25 — the third kilt skate that day.

The three kilt skates on February 25 proved to be the grand finale of a terrific kilt skate season. Some communities kept up a tradition that has been going back as long as a decade; others hosted their first events and hopefully established a tradition they’ll maintain for winters to come.

By now, many of the kilt skate partners have a well-run routine to create a festive atmosphere. These include choirs and dancers, pipers and ceilidhs, publicity and promotion, hot chocolate and cookies, kids games and flag waving. All that and a feeling of connection to the rest of the kilt skate community right across Canada and into the USA.

This year there were so many great kilt skate events. But Fergus ON had a particularly good event, and sent us photos and videos of the good times to be had by all.

Their innovations this year included a rinkside ceilidh.

And as usual in Fergus, there were also many flags to be waved and tattoo transfers promoting the Fergus Summer Festival. The city that is known for its renowned Highland summer games is now also famous for its winter kilt skates.

The Fergus Scottish Festival has a close relationship with the local media, including the Wellington Advertiser that declared the kilt skate a “huge success.” We happen to agree. Congratulations to Elizabeth Bender and her team from the Fergus Scottish Festival. You are the 2024 Kilt Skate Capital of Canada!