Toronto Organizes Kilt Skate Party -- Home Edition

The pandemic has made us innovate. When public health protocols made community events problematic, we adapted. Everyone was encouraged to kilt skate in a safe, outdoor, socially distanced manner in what we dubbed the Great Canadian Kilt Skate — Home Edition. Now in the GreateriToronto Area (GTA), they’re taking innovation to the next step: the Great Canadian Kilt Skate Zoom & Facebook Party. Join it from 11 a.m. until noon on Saturday February 27.

Here’s how it works:

AS SOON AS YOU CAN…

Kilt skate!

We encourage everyone to have their own socially-distanced, bubble-protected, safe and healthy kilt skate.

Wear your tartan. Wear your kilt. Take to the ice in your backyard, on your community rink or the the pond down the road. Please stay safe!

POST your photos and videos with the hashtags

• #kiltskate2021GTA

• #OttScot

• #ScotlandIsNow.

THEN…

SEND your photos, videos and stories to kiltskate@cassoc.ca or visit http://mapleleafmacgregor.ca/upload/ to upload them. We’ll put them together to share at the party.

JOIN us online by asking for an invitation to the party which will be held on February 27, between 11 a.m. and noon, Eastern Standard Time.

Or…

Watch the livestream February 27, between 11 a.m. and noon, on CASSOC’s Facebook page.

The Zoom & Facebook Party is organized by the Clans and Scottish Societies of Canada (CASSOC), which has been involved with the kilt skate in Toronto for several years. William Petrie, CASSOC’s Chair, recently honed his Zoom meeting chops by helping to organize the recent Scottish North American Community Conference.

Toronto was not among the four cities that held the first kilt skate in January 2015, but the following year, one of the organizers from the Ottawa kilt skate visited Toronto to see if he could elicit some interest by taking to the ice at Nathan Philips Square.

The following year (2017) the Sons of Scotland Benevolent Association organized an event at Nathan Philips Square.

The year after that, the turnout was so large and enthusiastic that Toronto was declared the 2018 Kilt Skate Capital of Canada.

In 2019 the kilt skate weekend was so cold in Toronto that only a few skaters turned up — as well as a few dancers.

So in 2020 the organizers decided to follow the lead of other cities who had moved their kilt skates to indoor arenas.

Now we’re all looking forward to see what the Toronto will do for the Home Edition. There’s a strong and fiercely proud Scottish community in the GTA. Let’s all get together on February 27 on Zoom and on Facebook. Let’s see if Toronto will recapture it's title as Kilt Skate Capital of Canada.