Last Friday’s announcement that Toronto was named the 2018 Kilt Skate Capital of Canada caps a remarkable story of growth and achievement — and shows how skating in a kilt to celebrate Scotland’s contribution to Canada is catching on.
Don Cummer and Sue MacGregor have announced to the Scottish Society of Ottawa that they are stepping down as national organizers of Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate. Cummer, who began the tradition of kilt skating to celebrate the birthday of Canada's first Prime Minister, helped organize the first national kilt skate in 2015 and has been the event's public face ever since. MacGregor volunteered in hosting the 2016 Ottawa event when she and her husband had returned from diplomatic postings, and organized the operations of the national events in 2017 and 2018.
Read MoreThe national event was the most successful yet in the four years of Sir John A’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate. With $15,000 in funding from the Scottish Government, sponsored events were held in seven cities (two more than last year), and the attendance numbers in most of the cities increased significantly from the previous year.
Read MoreThe City of Ottawa has declared January to be Scottish Month, but surely the month of March belongs to the Irish. St. Patrick's Day is still a week away, but already the stores and pubs across town are filled with Irish themes. And when Beau's Brewery decides to host a St. Patrick's party on March 10 rather than the 17th, well who are we to refuse an invitation to enjoy a good time? Especially when a group of former hockey parents haven't seen one another in a while.
Read MoreThe Rideau Canal Skateway has closed for the season, the lights are out at the Canada150 rink, and across Ottawa, the outdoor hockey rinks are covered with snow. But there is still great skating to be had at Rideau Hall, the residence of Canada's Governor General.
Read MoreIn 1990, the province of Alberta proclaimed the first "Family Day" holiday in Canada -- a chance to get together and, hopefully, get outside with the family for a mid-winter break. In Calgary, a good place to get together is Bowness Park. In summer months, it's an amusement park where you can rent canoes, go for a ride on a miniature railway, or enjoy the kiddy rides. In winter the lagoon of the Bow River is maintained as a skating rink.
We've celebrated the last of the official kilt skates, but the joy of skating in the kilt lives on. And when the Rocky Mountains beckon, why not don the kilt, pack the skates and the saltire, and head west out of Calgary.
Read MoreThe temperatures in Western Canada on the morning of Sunday, February 11, dropped to the minus-20 range. In Calgary, the skaters were sheltered somewhat by the tall buildings. The Riley Family Duck Pond in Assiniboine Park, on the other hand, has little to shelter it from winds that sweep down from the Arctic. Wind chill made the temperature feel like it was 30-below.
Read MoreWeather in the Ottawa Valley has not been kind to plans for kilt skates. When they first envisioned a kilt skate for North Glengarry, the Clan Donald Society imagined kilted skaters on the Alexandria Mill Pond. But the deep freezes and the rapid thaws and occasional rains of the past weeks made a pond skate impractical. So they decided to do something different.
Read MoreWINNIPEG – On Sunday, February 11, at the Riley Family Duck Pond, Qualico Family Centre, Assinboine Park, the people of Winnipeg will take to the ice in their kilts, tartans and other Scottish regalia in an effort to claim the title of “Kilt Skate Capital of Canada.”
Read MoreBy 1 p.m., the temperature had managed to crawl its way up to a balmy minus-19. But cold weather doesn't keep prairie people indoors. Some thirty hearty skaters laced up at the Cameco Meewasin Skating Rink for the fourth annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate.
Read MoreAfter a flurry of social media posts, Scots came out in great numbers to Toronto's second annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate. Outdoor kilt skates are always vulnerable to the weather, and on the Saturday on which the skate was originally scheduled, the rain poured on Nathan Phillips Square. Mind you, that didn't stop some Torontonians from trying out their skates, but I'm glad the City asked us to move our event to Sunday.
Read MoreIn past years, Bryan Lyall organized a full Burns dinner for the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO), complete with remembering the Immortal Memory, toasts to Lassies and, of course, the Address to the haggis. This year, with Brian away on other responsibilities, we gathered for the fun and the fare at The Highlander Pub, where anyone wearing tartan gets a complementary dram.
Read MoreThis is a great day for Scots and poets everywhere. It's a national day dedicated to a poet, Robbie Burns. January 25 is his birthday -- and along with the January 11 birthday of another great Scot, Sir John A. Macdonald -- it was a day on which the "thrawn" among us took to the Rideau Canal Skateway in our kilts.
Read MoreThe Ottawa version of Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate continues to grow. This year, about a hundred kilted and tartaned skaters gathered at the Lansdowne Park Skating Rink, milling about the tents and taking to the ice on a beautiful winter day. Skating, eating birthday cake and, of course, playing the bagpipes.
Read MoreThe temperature was just above freezing but the refrigeration coils kept the ice surface hard at the Natrel Skating Rink in the Old Port of Montreal. More than a hundred Saturday skaters were on the rink, and of them, 34 had donned their kilts and tartans to celebrate the Fourth Annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate in that city.
Read MoreOttawa had a perfect day for a kilt skate today, and about a hundred skaters and spectators gathered at Lansdowne Park Skating Court to celebrate Scotland's contribution to Canada's multicultural fabric. The pictures of the event will follow when our photographer culls his shots, but in the meantime, here's some snaps of the preparations, showcasing our wonderful team of volunteer -- coordinated by wonderful Isobel Adams.
Read MoreThe first kilt skates of the season begin tomorrow in Montreal and Ottawa. Here in Ottawa, this means a flurry of media interviews that began earlier this week and will continue on the ice tomorrow. Today, however, there were two television interviews with the local CTV station. The Morning Live show had us rendezvous at Lansdowne Park Skating Court, where the Fourth Annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate begins tomorrow at 11 a.m. Peter wired me for sound.
Read MoreIt's turned out to be a beautiful day for a kilt skate at the Old Port of Montreal. We're always at the mercy of the weather: last year, for example, Winnipeg had to be cancelled because the ice had melted; this year, Montreal had to be rescheduled because a winter storm walloped the city. But everything works out in the end -- and the ice at Natrel Skating Rink in the Old Port of Montreal was excellent.
Read MoreThe purpose of Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate is to celebrate the birthday of the Father of Canada's Confederation and our first Prime Minister -- many would say the best. So what better time to go for a kilt skate than January 11.
Read More
across canada, communities host kilt skates to celebrate scotland’s contribution to our multicultural fabric.
