The Kilt Skate takes place on February 1 at the ATB Centre in Lethbridge (Photo provided by Tara Grindle, City of Lethbridge)

By Justin Goulet

Kilt Skate taking place this Saturday in Lethbridge

Jan 31, 2020 | 5:30 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Scottish culture will be celebrated at the ATB Centre on Saturday.

The second annual Kilt Skate takes place on February 1. The event is organized by the City of Lethbridge in partnership with The Scottish Society of Ottawa.

The City of Lethbridge’s Recreation and Culture Development Manager, Lori Harasem said the event is a free public skate that they would normally host at the venue, but last year they jumped on board to join a growing number of communities that host a Kilt Skate.

“Like many things that happen, we see things that other municipalities are doing and think that looks really fun, and I especially noticed it taking place because I used to actually plan one of the local Robbie Burns Day events and I know how popular it was and how many Scottish people that there are in Lethbridge,” she said.

“Since we do offer free public skates anyways, it seemed like a simple and fun way to jump onboard and just reach out to some of the Scottish community that I had already worked with through Robbie Burns Day events and bring them all to a skating arena and turn one of our public skates into a bit of a themed, fun skate.”

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Bagpipers from Bridge City Highlanders will be on-site to kick off the event at 1:45 p.m.

“Last year after they piped everybody on to the ice, some of the bagpipers actually put on skates themselves and played while they skated,” she said.

Harasem added the event is open to everyone and attendees can choose to wear a kilt, bring a Scottish flag or just swing by if they’d like to experience a taste of Scottish culture, even if they don’t want to skate. The Lethbridge Curling Club will provide hot chocolate throughout the afternoon.

She admitted she wasn’t sure how the event would be received when it debuted last year, but overall, the response was extremely positive.

“People were very excited because it also was showing their love of Scotland to a lot of people who were just coming to a free public skate,” she said.

“I think it’s very important to always, where we can, celebrate every sort of ethnicity and every sort of culture that we have here [Lethbridge and southern Alberta] and this is just a fun way to do it.”

Across the world this weekend, there will be three Kilt Skates taking place; in New York City, Boston and in Lethbridge.

“I think it’s just a fun way to celebrate and promote an active lifestyle,” Harasem said.

The Kilt Skate is for all ages and abilities and runs until 3:00 p.m. at the ATB Centre in Lethbridge.