But before we say goodbye to the skating season on the Rideau Canal Skateway, I want to give a big thank you to the NCC crews who worked through the night to groom the ice and get it ready for skaters the next day.

The National Capital region's annual winter festival began the first weekend of February, and stretched on for three weeks.  It's been a great time -- big crowds, fun events. I wish I had taken in some of the concerts and viewed the ice sculptures and seen yesterday's dragonboat races on ice! What I did get to see was Hockey Day in Canada, in which over 150 games of shinny were placed on the canal between 8 and 9 a.m. yesterday. 

here's much that can be managed and controlled in hosting a kilt skate -- cake, hot chocolate, entertainment, swag. What lies beyond our control, of course, is the weather. As Rabbie Burns might have said, "The best-laid plans of mice and kilt skater gang aft agley."

The kilt skate gods blessed Calgary with above-zero temperatures on Sunday -- but not so warm that the refrigerators coils could keep a hard ice surface at Calgary Olympic Plaza.

Calgary's third annual kilt skate will be held this Sunday, February 12 at the Olympic Plaza from noon until 4 p.m.. Calgarians seem determined to wrest from Saskatoon the title of Kilt Skate Capital of Canada.

When it comes to organizing outdoor kilt skates, Mother Nature always has the last word. And so, with last week's warm spell continuing into the weekend across Eastern Canada, the Third Annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate had to be moved off the Rideau Canal. We're moving it to the Lansdowne Park Skating Court, where we held it last year.  It's a great place for a kilt skate: refrigeration coils to keep the ice from melting; Zamboni service to keep the ice smooth; changing rooms to keep skaters warm; electrical outlets to keep our costs down.

Another city has stepped forward to host Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate, bringing the total across Canada to seven -- the highest number yet seen in a growing winter tradition. Lloydminster is a city of 30,000 that straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. The kilt skate will be held at Bud Miller All-Seasons Park.  "The City of Lloydminster clears the ice on the lake for outdoor skating," says Kendra Jones McGrath, who owns and operates the Jones Studio of Pilates and Highland Dance. "There is also an indoor spot with a fireplace to warm up." 

“More than five million Canadians trace their ancestry to Scotland,” says Chris Maskell, Scottish Government representative. “We’re incredibly proud of that Scottish heritage, and we want to celebrate the enormous contribution that Scots and those of Scottish descent have made here in Canada – perhaps none more so than Sir John A. Macdonald.” The Scottish Government is keen to help the Scottish Canadian community maintain their connections to Scotland.  “This year marks the 150th birthday of Canada, but it is also Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology,” says Maskell. “There’s never been a better time to come and visit Scotland.”

We ...take great pleasure – and pride – in what is reportedly the best natural outdoor skating rink in the National Capital Region. Windsor Park has the best outdoor ice for a reason. For one thing,  weather permitting, an army of community volunteers work together so that, every night, a team goes out go out to flood the rink.

The Rideau Canal is not frozen yet. It will be a few weeks before we'll be able to glide down the Skateway. But the City of Ottawa has opened its rinks at City Hall and Lansdowne Park.  The refrigerated coils keep the ice cold so we can get our first outdoor skating experience of the season.  At night we come out to the Aberdeen Pavilion where,  last January, we held our second annual Sir John A's Great Canadian Kilt Skate.