Lloydminster's First Annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate

Lloydminster's First Annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate

With the temperatures in the previous week in the minus-42 range, Kendra Jones McGrath wasn't sure how many people to expect for the Lloydminster's inaugural kilt skate. The great thing about Canadians, though, is we tend to be infinitely adaptable to the vagaries of winter.  After a cold spell of 42 below zero, when the temperatures rise on the weekend to a balmy minus-11, well the weather seems almost tropical.

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Hogman-eh! Ottawa celebrates New Year's Scottish-style

Hogman-eh! Ottawa celebrates New Year's Scottish-style

Should auld acquaintance be forgot?  Not when Ottawa gets together for another great New Year’s Eve celebration at the Aberdeen Pavilion. For the third straight year, the Scottish Society of Ottawa will host its “Hogman-eh!” celebration at Lansdowne Park.  As in past years, thousands of people are expected to gather in the old “Cattle Castle” to bring in the new year with live music, dancing, fireworks, and special entertainment for the kids.

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Perth: if you can skate in 30 below, try running in 30 above!

Perth: if you can skate in 30 below, try running in 30 above!

What a weekend for the annual World Record Kilt Run in Perth Ontario. By early afternoon, the temperatures had climbed to over 30 degrees Celsius, but that didn't prevent some 4000 kilted runners from gathering on Gore Street in the Eastern Ontario town that boasts one of the best preserved historical main streets in the country.

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The canal is closed; the skating continues.

The canal is closed; the skating continues.

At just 18 days, the 2016 was the shortest skating season on record. The entire length of the canal was open, it seems, for only a few days, including the last weekend during Winterlude. Still, it was a beautiful skate!

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Snow business like show business

Snow business like show business

The warm weather has pretty well wiped out the Rideau Canal Skateway for this second weekend of Winterlude. But when you're attracting hundreds of thousands of people to Ottawa from across Canada and around the world, the show must go on!  And fortunately there's lots of options.

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Saskatoon: Kilt Skate Capital of Canada!

Saskatoon: Kilt Skate Capital of Canada!

What was Saskatoon's secret? The weather helped. Last year, the temperature as around minus-30, but that didn't stop Sandy Campbell from playing the bagpipes while he skated the first Sir John A skate in 2015.

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Countdown: Saskatoon, Montreal, Winterlude

Countdown: Saskatoon, Montreal, Winterlude

Ottawa's Winterlude begins Friday. Montreal's kilt skate is Saturday. In Saskatoon, Sunday brings the finale of the Wintershines festival: a kilt skate followed by the world's biggest snowball fight. What a great weekend for winter-lovers.

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Burns Supper -- what's love got to do with it?

Burns Supper -- what's love got to do with it?

So this weekend, let's feel for all the wee and slicket timorous beasties. Let's ponder how the best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft a-gley. Let's try to see ourselves as others see us. Let's acknowledge that that the finest hours that e'er we spend are spent among the lasses-o. Let's drink a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne. Let's be thankit because we hae meat and we can eat. Let's celebrate the man of independent mind who looks and laughs at a' that. Let's keep our hearts in the highlands, a-chasing the deer. Let's cherish our loves -- the red red roses, newly sprung in June. And let's admit that, had we never lov'd sae kindly, and had we never lov'd sae blindly, and never met—or never parted -- we had ne'er been broken-hearted.

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First Canal Skate of the Season

First Canal Skate of the Season

The ice is a bit rough, but we expect that on the first day. Everyone on the Rideau Canal Skateway was just happy to have a 3.8 km portion of the world's longest skating rink open on a perfect winter afternoon -- sunny, minus 10 degrees, and no wind. Here's some pix.

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Rideau Canal Opens for Skating

Rideau Canal Opens for Skating

The season is starting late. Two years ago, we were skating the canal on New Year's Eve. The latest was February 2, 2002. Just couple of weeks ago, the canal was buried in snow. The ice was too thin for maintenance, and the temperatures refused to drop low enough to hurry the freezing process along.

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The Haggi go Hiding

The Haggi go Hiding

This is the weekend where it is dangerous to be a "great chieftan o the puddin' race." Tonight around the world, Scots will honour the great national poet, Robbie Burns. One of the highlights of the evening will be the "Address to a Haggis" in which the knife is plunged into the poor beastie, "Trenching your gushing entrails bright."

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Waiting for the canal to open

Waiting for the canal to open

The cold snap continues, and we have hopes that the Rideau Canal Skateway will open soon. The National Capital Commission won't raise the green flags until there's 30 cms of good ice -- enough to support crowds of 10,000 people who show up forWinterlude at a given time.

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Pictures from Calgary

Pictures from Calgary

It was a bitterly cold Saturday in Alberta, but the Optimist Clubs in Calgary and High River stoked the fire pits at the Olympic Plaza skating rink, and strapped on their skates. A few strapped tartan towels, courtesy of Canadian Tire, around their waists.  But some brave souls were willing to embrace the cold with enthusiasm and joy.  Well done, Calgary!

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First Pix from Ottawa's Kilt Skate, 2016

First Pix from Ottawa's Kilt Skate, 2016

Well, did you ever! What a swell party that was! The officials were on hand, the media was on hand, the skaters were on hand in all their kilted glory.  Oh, and there was free birthday cake and hot chocolate for the kids of all ages.  Here's some early photos of today's kilt skate, courtesy of Homero Martinez who has come here all the way from Mexico City, plus a couple of pix of our own.

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Showtime, Calgary!

Showtime, Calgary!

The Chinook winds have cleared away much of the snow in the Stampede City. But the Arctic front has returned and the forecast calls for a dusting of snow and a wind chill of minus 20 by the time the Optimist Clubs in Calgary and High River launch the 2nd Annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate. Once again, the skate will take place at Olympic Plaza between noon and 4 p.m.

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What would Sir John A. think?

What would Sir John A. think?

The Rink of Dreams is a wonderful facility -- an oval lit overhead and with illuminated sideboards that change colours. At that hour, there were only a handful of skaters, but more and more arrived as the evening darkened.

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