Ottawa hosted its ninth annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate on the Sunday of Family Day weekend. That same day, 80 km down the Ottawa Valley, the Township of North Glengarry hosted its biennial kilt skate.
Read MoreThis year, Moncton made the Great Canadian Kilt Skate part of the celebrations of its first-ever Polar Fest/Festipolaire — a winter festival at Centennial Park during the Family Day weekend. Kilt skaters were treated to a gorgeous winter day on the new (created last year) Muskrat Skating Trail.
Read MoreNova Scotia: Latin for “New Scotland.” A fertile ground (rink?) for a kilt skate, you’d think. And you’d be right! On Family Day Monday, the Antigonish Highland Society hosted Nova Scotia’s first-ever Great Canadian Kilt Skate, and wow, did Nova Scotians ever step up — and out onto the ice.
Read MoreAfter the Covid pandemic forced cancellation of the 2021 and 2022 events, the Great Canadian Kilt Skate returned to Calgary in 2023 with a blast. A blast of bagpipes…
Read MoreIt’s only mid-February but in parts of Canada, Spring is already on the way. In Brampton Ontario’s Gage Park, the ice of the Outdoor Skating Recreation Trail contrasts with the grass as the snow banks recedes. On a day like this, a person can skate without fear of frostbite.
Read MoreThe weather patterns this winter have been…unpredictable. But for the second straight year, Concord, New Hampshire, has lucked onto the perfect day for a kilt skate on a frozen pond.
Read MoreCommunity kilt skating has returned to Montreal, which hosted its first kilt skate in 2015. One of the kilt skaters at the Verdun Auditorium this year wasn’t even born then.
Read MoreWith the lifting of the pandemic restrictions, JP had a vision: bring the town together for a community kilt skate and combine it with a celebration of Scotland’s National Poet. He announced a kilt skate for January 25 — Robbie Burns Day — to be followed by a poetry reading at the town library.
Read MoreThe winter of 2023 is shaping up as one of the biggest and varied kilt skate seasons yet. New communities are coming to the party, and they are coming up with new ways to organize a kilt skate.
Read MoreNobody celebrates New Years Eve like the Scots and, in Canada, nobody throws a New Year’s Eve party like the Scottish Society of Ottawa — tonight they are offering their 11th annual “Hogman-eh!” at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park.
Read MoreAfter two years when public health protocols forced cancellation of scheduled events, community Kilt Skates will return to Montreal and Calgary.
Read MoreWith the 2023 kilt skate season just weeks away, the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO) has produced a video highlighting a Canadian tradition that continues to grow and flourish.
Read MoreWinter is coming and, with it, a new kilt skate season. New Hampshire Scot, (NHSCOT) which draws its membership from across New England and beyond, told a Zoom meeting of kilt skate organizers that their second annual Great Kilt Skate will be help on Sunday, February 5, 2023, in Concord, New Hampshire.
Read MoreWell, wasn’t 2022 a curious kilt skate season! On the one hand, the kilt skate family is bigger than ever: this year it grew to 14 Canadian and 2 American cities. On the other hand, the rise of the Omicron Covid virus forced the cancellation of community kilt skates in 10 of those cities. But individuals and families carried on, holding their own socially-distanced “Home Edition” kilt skates.
Read MoreThe 2022 kilt skate season wrapped up in the first-ever community kilt skate held in one of Canada’s Atlantic provinces — on a day when winter wrapped Prince Edward Island in a last cold embrace.
Read MoreThe Townships of North and South Glengarry take turns hosting a kilt skate each year. Last year’s was called off because of the pandemic. This year it was South Glengarry’s turn again, and they proved once more that the Glengarries know how to throw a party. The kids couldn’t wait to get back out on the ice.
Read MoreIt’s 2022 and the Great Canadian Kilt Skate is back in full force for community skating. This marks the eighth year in which the Scottish Society of Ottawa has helped organize kilt skates — not only in Ottawa but across Canada. After last year’s very successful “Home Edition” where skaters took to the ice in their own socially distanced bubbles, this year provided an opportunity at last to get together socially.
Read MoreIt takes a certain twisted determination to do something as impractical as skating with bare knees when the thermometer tells you it’s 25-below, but with the wind chill, it feels like 40-below. The Scots have a word for it: THRAWN!
Read MoreEach winter since 2015, the Saskatoon Highland Dancing Association has hosted a community kilt skate. This year, like others before, the photos from the event feature young children at the beginning of their dancing career and the beginning of what we hope will be a lifelong love of skating.
Read MoreFor the fourth year, Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan has hosted the Tartan Kilt Skate NYC. This year, once again, skaters gathered in their kilts and tartans to celebrate Scottish heritage.
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across canada, communities host kilt skates to celebrate scotland’s contribution to our multicultural fabric.
