Sacred Roller Skate Supply Provides Welcoming Space For All In Herndon

HERNDON, VA — Katie McDonald is inviting residents of Herndon — and anyone else who likes to roller skate — to come see her fulfill a lifelong dream on Saturday. That's when Sacred Roller Skate Supply will officially open for business.

"Owning some kind of boutique or some sort of specialty shop has always been a dream of mine, basically to bring community and like-minded people together," McDonald said, several days before Saturday's reopening. "That was the thing that I've always looked forward to that's always been unattainable for whatever reason."

Community means a lot to McDonald, whose family moved to Herndon when she was 3. Growing up, she visited the Herndon Festival every year, took ballet and jazz lessons at the Herndon Community Center, and petted horses over the fences at Follylick Farm.

"To say that I had a wonderful childhood growing up in Herndon is a gross understatement; it sounds cheesy, but I could not imagine a better setting to grow into young adult life," she said, in a release about her new business.

After going to college and moving around the country, McDonald and her husband moved back to Fairfax County with their two dogs. It was McDonald's husband who gave her first pair of roller skates for Valentine's Day.

"It was literally love from that moment on," she said. "I just could not stop reading about skating, watching skating videos, seeing these amazing strong women out there, just doing things that I never would have thought possible. It was super inspiring to me and it just catapulted from there."

Through what McDonald described as "insanely happenstance pieces falling in line," she discovered there weren't a lot of places locally where people could buy quad roller skates or pick up supplies. Since it was always her dream to open her own boutique or shop, why not open a roller skate shop in Herndon?

McDonald will do just that on Saturday, when Sacred Roller Skate Supply opens for business at 681 Monroe St., next to American Carpet and Floor.

"Sacred" may seem like a strange word to name a roller skate shop, but that word describes the way McDonald feels when she's trying a new trick in front of all of her friends.

"The fact that you could hurt yourself, that you could look dumb. The fact that you know all of these worries that you think about in your daily life, those all just disappear," McDonald said. "To me, that moment is so sacred and so important to me, when it comes to skating. It embodies everything like the strength, the fearlessness, the power the community, and how all of that comes together for me as skating."

Sacred Roller Skate Supply is also woman and LGTBQAI+ owned, which is also meaningful for McDonald, as she set out to create a judgment-free space.

"I want to make sure that I am providing a safe place for people of all genders, all affiliations," she said. "Anything that strays away from the norm, you're normal here with us."

Since Saturday also happens to be National Skate Shop Day, roller skaters from as far away as Charlottesville, Richmond and Baltimore to be part of the grand opening ceremony.

Herndon Mayor Sheila Olem will be on hand to cut the ribbon at 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome to join in the festivities throughout the day and check out roller skate gear in the shop.

"We're going to be doing promotion for any purchases that are made over $25 you'll get a free Sacred Roller Skate Supply T-shirt,"It should be a really fun time."