On Family Sunday, February 18, the skating rink at Lansdowne Park will once again celebrate Scotland’s contribution to Canada by exposing bare knees to the elements of a Canadian winter.   

This will be the 10th year the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO) has organized The Great Canadian Kilt Skate in Ottawa and in other cities across Canada. 

 Even when the pandemic shut down community events, the SSO was able to bring together an online community of kilt skaters.  Participants sent photos and video from their local outdoor rinks and nearby frozen ponds, rivers and, of course, canals.  These were posted as the “Home Edition” of the kilt skate on its website  https://ottscot.ca/. 

With the return of community events in 2022, Ottawa was able to host its regular kilt skate party, including skaters, bagpipes, cake and hot chocolate, and lots of kilts and tartans. That year, Ottawa earned bragging rights as Kilt Skate Capital of Canada.

The Great Canadian Kilt Skate began as a Riverdale Avenue house party for Robbie Burns Day.  It included a nighttime skate on the Rideau Canal in which one of the skaters braved the elements by wearing a kilt in Burns’ honour. 

The weather that night was particularly nasty. The SSO heard about this display of Scottish fortitude and asked the host if he would help organize a kilt skate to mark the bicentennial of Canada’s first Prime Minister.    

With financial support from the Department of Canadian Heritage, SSO was able to produce one of the opening events of Winterlude 2015.  On a bitterly cold but brilliantly sunny Saturday morning, some 200 skaters gathered for music, Highland dancing, refreshments, Scottish swag and a skate from Fifth Avenue to the National Arts Centre.  All this at 40-below (including wind chill.) 

In order to secure the support from Canadian Heritage, the SSO had to ensure that kilt skates were held in at least three provinces.  The SSO reached out to organizations across Canada and in 2015 kilt skates were hosted in Montreal, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary as well as Ottawa.

Right from the beginning, the Great Canadian Kilt Skate has been a nation-wide event and the tradition continues. Last year, kilt skaters gathered in 14 Canadian cities – from Antigonish to Vancouver.  The phenomenon is growing beyond Canada’s borders.  Kilt skates have also been held in New York City, Concord NH, and Dublin, Ireland – and it all began with a late-night skating party on the Rideau Canal.

Everyone is welcome at the Great Canadian Kilt Skate.  You don’t need to be Scottish.  You don’t need to own a kilt.  Just wear a bit of Canada’s favourite colour: tartan!

On February 18, see you at the Lansdowne Skating Court behind the Aberdeen Pavilion, We’ll be there from 13:00 to 15:00. For more information, check out https://ottscot.ca/ and www.kiltskate.com.

[Originally published in the Ottawa South Community Association Review (OSCAR)]