SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — After thinking of things she could do safely to exercise during the pandemic, Dawn Walker bought red skates complete with rainbow wings.

She said she "was trying to think of things that had made me happy when I was a kid, and my kids had skates, and I thought I should get skates." 

After buying her skates, the mother of four posted on the Santa Clarita community page asking if anyone was interested in starting a group for skating. 

"Within hours, there were hundreds of people that had responded, and I said, 'Oh! I'll set up a group so that we can see about getting together, and Skating Mamas was born within an hour," she said.

Now there are more than 800 members. Events are held regularly, and anyone in the group can plan a skating event. As for the name, you don't have to be a mama or a woman to join. It's open to all genders and skating levels. All you need is skates. 

These days, buying skates may be a little challenging. Anna Kyker, a sales associate at Val Surf in Valencia, said, "8 and 9's they just fly out, they're gone, right away." 

Val Surf is where many of the Skating Mamas got their skates. In October, they had about a hundred pairs of skates and sold out by January, and it wasn't just this store. They also sold out of skates at their three other locations in north Los Angeles and Ventura County. 

"They started flying off the shelves, and we [were] like 'OK,' and then they sent us more, and then they were sold again, and we were like, 'OK, that's cool,' and now we're expecting it but it was definitely a little bit of a surprise," Kyker said. 

It's not surprising for Skating Mamas like Walker, who said she loves it and "there's nothing like it." 

The group will keep meeting at different locations where it's safe to skate until they get their own skating rink, something this growing group hopes will happen very soon.