The 2026 Kilt Skate Season Opens -- with Temperature Extremes
/The 2026 kilt skate season has opened. But the events planned in two Canadian cities show how the vagaries in Canadian weather affect the events.
In Calgary, the 12th Annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate, scheduled for January 18, had to be cancelled when temperatures in the mid-teens above zero had the City shut down the skating rink at Prince’s Island. Last year, Calgarians once again demonstrated their fortitude by going ahead with a kilt skate in temperatures that hit minus-30 with the wind chill.
Calgary’s cancellation left the bragging rights for the opening of the kilt skate season to Fredericton, New Brunswick, where, on January 24, the third annual Freddy Kilted Skate went ahead in spite of Arctic temperatures that rivalled Calgary’s event last year.
In spite of the cold, the skaters skated and the pipers managed to play the bagpipes though their fingers and their faces were frosty. One piper interviewed by CBC observed, “You can't maintain a seal on your bagpipes, so you're blown by the pipe."
In organizing the event, the Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew partnered with the Fredericton Region Museum whose premises are adjacent to the skating oval at Officers Square Provincial Heritage Place.
They chose a date to coincide with Robbie Burns Day weekend as well as the city's annual winter carnival FROSTival.
The Society’s Facebook page noted that the kilt skate celebrations would include opening ceremonies with greeting from the Deputy Mayor, and a performance by the Saorse Studio Dancers. Not only would skaters have an opportunity to warm up in the Museum, but refreshments were available as well, including haggis burgers, cookies, and hot chocolate. Other Robbie Burns activities suitable for both adults and children were held in the Museum throughout the day..
The annual Freddie Kilted Skate holds a special place in the evolution of the Great Canadian Kilt Skate. The idea of skating in kilts to celebrate Scotland’s place in Canada’s multicultural heritage first began as a house party in Ottawa to mark Burns Day. In 2014, the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO) applied for a grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage to host a kilt skate to mark the bicentennial of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth the following year. The department agreed to provide funding but only if the event were held in at least three Canadian provinces. Within a week, SSO had located partners in: Montreal, Quebec; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Calgary, Alberta — four provinces including Ottawa, Ontario. The SSO distributed the funding to its partners to pay for items including insurance, advertising, ice rentals, professional photography, and refreshments such as hot chocolate and a birthday cake for Sir John A. After a few years, the Government of Scotland funded the kilt skate. The kilt skate social media included promotion of Scotland as a tourist destination and business opportunity. With the help of such funding, the SSO was able to grow the number of kilt skates held across Canada.
With the COVID pandemic, funding for social gatherings such as kilt skates dried up. The SSO no longer had funding to distribute to its kilt skate partners, but it continued to champion the idea of a kilt skate to express pride in Canada’s Scottish roots. Skaters were encouraged to take to the ice in tartans and kilts as individuals and during the pandemic years, solo skaters and families posted their pictures on the SSO website.
Although it no longer has funding to distribute, the SSO continues to encourage Scottish organizations to host kilt skates in their communities. We have always hoped that the day would come when the kilt skate phenomenon would reach a tipping point where organizations with no connection to SSO would launch their own event without any central guidance. In 2024 the news reports of a Freddy Kilted Skate in Fredericton, New Brunswick, was a proud moment for us. It proved that the seed that had been planted at a Rideau Canal skkating party had taken root. The kilt skate idea was growing organically.
SSO’s current Director of the National Kilt Skate, Andy MacCulloch works hard to build a community of kilt skate partners. This website continues as a repository of information and imagery of kilt skates past, present, and yet-to-come. The partnerships now stretch to include organizations in the United States and in Scotland itself,. This year Renfrewshire, Scotland, and Concord, New Hampshire,join with nine Canadian cities International Kilt Skate Weekend, February 21-22, 2026. Another four Canadian communities plan their kilt skates for dates outside this weekend.
We’ll continue to report on kilt skates wherever we find them, and we will maintain www.kiltskate.com as a source of information and advice for anyone planning to organize a kilt skate. So please, if you are hosting a kilt skate in your community, contact us.
