No kilt? Ok. No skates? That's ok too!
/Week 6 of the kilt skate season started with the first community event of the year. On a sunny but cold afternoon, Scots and Scots-at-heart from near and far gathered at the skating pond at White Park in Concord, NH. The event was organized and hosted by the New Hampshire Scots, who were pleased with the turnout and impressed that some skaters had driven more than an hour to take part in the first-ever kilt skate in their state — the first-ever in New England..
You don’t have to be Scottish to kilt skate. You don’t need a kilt. Tartan will do. And if you don’t care much for skating, well come join your friends anyway. You don’t need skates. You just need a Scottish sense of fun and fortitude.
But it helps when Scottish saltires are available for skaters.
And of course, we do love to see skaters come out in full regalia.
And we love to see the next generation being introduced to the joy of the kilt skate.
The local television station WMUR was on hand to record the event. We appreciate the acknowledgement that the kilt skate phenomenon began in Canada, but wish to correct, for the record, that the first kilt skate began as a national phenomenon by the Scottish Society of Ottawa in 2015 (not 2017 as reported.)
We look forward to reports from Concord for many years to come.
A few days later, the Fourth Annual Tartan Kilt Skate NYC was held in Manhattan. Watch for a report in the days to come. And meanwhile, north of the border, in the home of kilt skating, the Great Canadian Kilt Skate continued with its Home Edition. Skaters are invited to tag their photos and videos #kiltskate2022 #TartanUp #ottscot #ScotlandIsNow, or email to kiltskatemedia@ottscot.ca. Here’s a family that posted a photo from Montreal.
Once again this week, the majority of the photos received came to us from Ottawa, which seems to be making a determined effort to win the bragging rights as Kilt Skate Capital of Canada.
The irrepressible Dave Johnston was out on the ice several times again this week, and once more he took advantage of the occasion to entertain the Rideau Canal Skateway with bagpipes. The pipes can be less enthusiastic about cold weather than Dave is!
But wait! Two thousand kilometers west of Ottawa, the reigning Kilt Skate Capital of Canada — Winnipeg, Manitoba — has declared its determination to retain the title. Winnipeg has a few weeks left to send photos and videos for the Home Edition, but so far, Ottawa is way ahead on that metric.
Maybe it will all come down to a series of community events that will take place across Canada, beginning this afternoon in Saskatoon. The current list of community events for the Great Canadian Kilt Skate include:
Saskatoon, February 13, 2022 #kiltskate2022SASK
Glenaladale, February 19, 2022 #kiltskate2022PEI
Winnipeg, February 21, 2022, #kiltskate2022WPG
Ottawa, February 26, 2022 #kiltskate2022OTT
Glengarry, February 27, 2022 #kiltskate2022GLEN
We’re sorry to report that the community event scheduled for Fergus, Ontario, on February 20 has been cancelled due to public health protocols. But elsewhere the show will go on. We’ll have lots of photos and news in the coming weeks!
