Night Skates: Quebec City and Vancouver

Over the years, kilt skating has evolved. It began as a house party, was commissioned as a national bicentennial event, morphed into an indoor ceilidh and a winter festival, and continues to change as more people have new ideas on how to celebrate Scottish culture with bare knees and ice. Each organization has its own ideas on what makes for a great kilt skate experience, and they’re all right.

This year, independent of each other and on the same date (February 18, 2023), two first-time kilt skate cities Quebec City, QC, and Vancouver BC — returned to the original kilt skate idea: hold it at night as a party primarily for adults.

The Quebec City event was held at the Anneau Rink on the Plains of Abraham, near the spot where British and French armies fought to determine the future of North America. The skaters included Scottish, Quebec and Canadian flags.

But among the skaters was a piper from the 78th Fraser Highlanders — a regiment that, in 1759, climbed the cliffs and helped form the thin red line that met the French attack.

After the skate, the piper was joined by fellow musicians at the nearby Galway Pub where they entertained the clientele with Scottish favorites.

They were subsequently rewarded by the pub owner with a unique single malt from Quebec.

The festivities continued into the evening with a song session.

Among the performers was Andy MacCulloch and his daughter Madison. Not only did Andy organize Quebec City’s first-ever Great Canadian Kilt Skate; as Director of Communications and Kilt Skate for the Scottish Society of Ottawa, he has been coordinating the national kilt skate in 12 Canadian and one American city.

Andy’s report on both the Quebec City and Vancouver kilt skates can be found on the SSO website. The organizer of Vancouver’s first-ever Great Canadian Kilt skate was Mike Chisholm, Executive Director of ScotFestBC — the British Columbia Highland Games and World Music Festival. Mike is also a piper and took full advantage of the opportunity to play at Vancouver’s kilt skate.

He was joined by colourful colleagues.

And by skaters, of course.

The BC skate also included the “hockey stick saltire,” which has been adopted by kilt skaters across the country as a symbol for an event that is indelibly Scottish but undeniably Canadian.

But as the National Poet once wrote, “The best laid plans of mice and kilt skates gang aft agley.” Mike’s original plan was to combine a nighttime kilt skate in North Vancouver’s The Shipyards Skate Plaza. The plan was to repair, after the skate, to the adjacent Tap and Barrel for an apres-skate refreshment that would not be restricted to the shortbread and hot chocolate fare of more family-oriented daytime events. Unfortunately, the pub was closed that night, so skaters sought a place to socialize elsewhere.

But for both the Quebec and Vancouver events, the organizers were very encouraged. As Mike Chisholm told Andy MacCulloch, “It is great to launch an event in the winter that supports our Scottish heritage out here on the West coast. We have just scratched the surface of the Kilt Skate experience and we are looking forward to helping to spread this idea around British Columbia.”