Burns Day Kilt Skate

J.P. Bautista-Hunter is proud of his Scottish heritage. In the winter of 2021 when the COVID pandemic morphed the community events of the Great Canadian Kilt Skate into a series of “Home Editions," he sent photos from his local rink in Lumsden, Saskatchewan, 30 km north of Regina.

With the lifting of the pandemic restrictions, JP had a vision: bring the town together for a community kilt skate and combine it with a celebration of Scotland’s National Poet. He announced a kilt skate for January 25 — Robbie Burns Day — to be followed by a poetry reading at the town library across the parking lot from the outdoor rink (ODR in Canada-speak). Skaters could warm up with cookies and hot chocolate, and the imagined heat from a virtual fireplace.

January 25 turned out to be a braw, cold night. The municipality had recently flooded the ODR (which sometimes assumes lesser priority than the indoor arena ice) and the conditions sound like they were perfect for a brisk, crisp skate. J.P. was joined on the ice by his daughter and her friend.

From these modest beginnings, J.P. hopes to grow a strong kilt skate tradition. Many people stopped by to ask why the three of them were skating in the cold in their kilts, and several offered to help and promote future events.

After the skate, J.P. didn’t find any Burns enthusiasts at the library. No one had responded to his invitation to hot chocolate, cookies and poetry, but the local quilting club did show an interest in his idea. Again, lots of offers of support for next year.

And J.P. is already making plans for 2024. He doesn’t think he’ll hold the event at night again: the temperature drops and it’s harder to get people out. He says that he probably won’t tie the kilt skate event to the Robbie Burns narrative again — keep things simple! Instead, he’s planning an event on the Sunday before Family Day — the third weekend of February, and the start of the winter break. The Town office indicated they’d be able to help next year, and many people have expressed their interest.

“Nothing worked out as we planned,” J.P. observes, “but we did get the attention of groups that didn’t know about us before. We made steps to share Scottish ancestry and got more conversations going.  That’s a win for me.”

I’ll say! And with J.P.’s determination and tenacity, we’re looking forward to reporting on Kilt Skate 2024 in Lumsden, Saskatchewan.