It began as an annual house party on Riverdale Avenue to mark two birthdays -- Sir John A. Macdonald’s, and mine.

 Last year, it morphed into a full-blown winter festival in five Canadian cities to celebrate the bicentennial of our first Prime Minister. It became one of the opening events of Winterlude 2015.

The momentum is certainly picking up.  We just received a call from CTV Morning Liveand will be on television next Friday at 9:30.  This will be the Ottawa station, but we've asked the producer to do what she can to get the kilt skates in the partner cities interviewed by the local CTV station.

It’s an event both uniquely Canadian and undeniably Scottish. It highlights the joys and challenges of our winters and the legacy of the people who helped build Canada. Sir John A’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate is back for a second year, celebrating our first Prime Minister and our Scottish heritage with bare knees and ice.

“Last year was Macdonald’s bicentennial, and to mark the event, fi

The temperature is dropping to minus 19 in Ottawa tonight.  There is hope yet that the Rideau Canal Skateway will be open for our kilt skate on January 16.  The National Capital Commission that manages the Skateway won't let the public on the ice until it's strong enough to support about 10,000 people. Here's a picture of how the canal looks today, covered in snow.

OTTAWA (January 22, 2015) – On the last Saturday in January, thousands of skaters on open air rinks across Canada will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Sir John A Macdonald – a great Canadian and a great Scot. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in January 1815 and came to Canada with his family as a small boy. He became the prominent architect of Confederation and Canada’s first Prime Minister.

The Scots sure know how to bring in the new year. By my estimate, some 15,000 people showed up at Lansdowne Park last night for the Scottish Society of Ottawa's 4th annual Hogmanay. While most of the music dancing, the eating and scotch-tasting, the story-telling and face-painting took place in the Aberdeen Pavilion and the Horticulture Building, all day long there was a lot of action on the skating rink near Queen Elizabeth Drive.