Again this year, a mild winter made the originally-scheduled date untenable. But rather than cancel the event outright, Winnipeg (current holder of bragging rights as Kilt Skate Capital of Canada) took a chance on rescheduling for later in February. As Evelyn Mitchell, organizer of Winnipeg’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate, reports, the gamble paid off:

Age doesn’t matter: with a flag in your hand and your skates on your feet, the years fall away and we can all be children again.

“The event was a great success having many skaters with or without kilts who enjoyed celebrating our Scottish heritage. The event started with the South Glengarry Pipe Band entertaining the crowd with some of their traditional Scottish tunes.

The Antigonish Highland Society reports from their 2nd annual Great Canadian Kilted Skate, which they hosted on Heritage Day, February 19th, at the Antigonish Arena.

Having spent the past few winters in Ireland, I was delighted to be in Ottawa this year for its tenth annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate. The date corresponded with the last weekend of Ottawa’s annual Winterlude carnival, so the Ice Hog mascots — suitably tartaned up — were on hand to welcome kilt skaters.

“It was a small kilt skate for the first one in the Renfrew County,” reports Whitney Brooks, the event organizer. “But, the community came together and showed up!”

For the second straight year, Scots and Scots-at-heart in Moncton, New Brunswick, have celebrated their cultural roots at the annual Polarfest winter carnival.

We had an amazing day. The weather was perfect, sunny and +4C for the 10th Annual Calgary Kilt Skate.

It was a wonderfully warm sunny day in Toronto and the Evergreen Brickworks Weekend Market was in full swing when a small but mighty group of kilted skaters took to the ice.

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.