Scotland helps Kilt Skate spread
By Jennifer Doede
To mark Canada’s 150th birthday, the Scottish Government is helping fund six of the Sir John A. Great Canadian Kilt Skates that will take place across the country this winter season.
These events are happening in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary.
The third annual Ottawa Kilt Skate will take place Jan. 28 on the Rideau Canal Skateway next to Dows Lake Pavilion where people are is invited to dress up in kilts and other attire linked to Scottish heritage while going for a leisurely skate in celebration of the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.
Don Cummer, “skater-in-chief” of the Kilt Skate, shares a birthday with Macdonald, and would mark the occasion by going out for a skate in his kilt with his friends.
In 2015, the Scottish Society of Ottawa approached Cummer to host a community skate based on this tradition in celebration of the bicentennial of Macdonald’s birth in Glasgow, Scotland, in January 1815.
About 200 participants showed up for the afternoon to release their inner Scot and go for a skate along the canal.
The majority of the funding from the Scottish Government for the Ottawa Kilt Skate will go towards advertising for the event, while other cities are using the funding in a variety of different ways, such as covering the skating rink fee for a certain number of early participants.
The event is being held in January to ensure that the event will take place on the canal. Last year they were forced to relocate to Lansdowne Park due to the canal being closed, according to Sue MacGregor, a member of the communications team for the Scottish Society of Ottawa.
MacGregor added that the event will include a number of speakers and an announcement.
“We will also have a few speakers at the event such as federal environment minister Catherine McKenna, Brian Cleary from the National Capital Commission, and Deputy Mayor Mark Taylor. Mark Taylor will read a proclamation from Mayor Jim Watson declaring Jan. 28 as Sir John A. Macdonald Day.”
In addition to bringing speakers to the event, the team is working to design posters for each of the cities hosting a Kilt Skate.
This year, the city of Lloydminster became the latest city to sign up to host a Kilt Skate. That event took place on Jan. 14, making it the seventh city across Canada to host one.
The Kilt Skate, Robbie Burns’ Supper and the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry tour are the three major events hosted in Ottawa this January that celebrate Scottish heritage.
The Robbie Burns’ Supper starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Heart and Crown Pub in the Byward Market on the same day as the Kilt Skate.
The Scottish Diaspora Tapestry tour is a project that involves communities from around the world celebrating
Scottish culture by telling stories linked to Scottish heritage through tapestries—a form of textile art in which designs are formed by weaving colourful weft threads onto canvas. The diaspora tapestry exhibit was on display at the Main Metcalfe Street branch of the Ottawa Public Library earlier this month.
According to David Johnston, a past participant, the Kilt Skate is seen as a way to preserve Scottish heritage.
“I am part of a pipe band and I brought my bagpipes out to the event last year at the Lansdowne skating court, which was a lot of fun,” said Johnston. “The Kilt Skate is a great opportunity to meet other people that are involved in Scottish culture and to make new friends.”