Intricate stained glass and jungle gyms don’t usually go side by side. Sia Fouse is working on removing the stained glass, but she keeps filling the Sia Center, an indoor playground and event space in Vandergrift, with even more toys and equipment. She bought the former St.
Paul Lutheran Church at 716 Wallace St. last year, remodeled it and fully opened in March. The community is responding well, she said, and the place is packed with kids 8 and younger during open play times from 10 a.
m. to 3 p.m.
Fridays to Sundays. That includes some repeat customers. “I don’t have to say my speech as much,” Fouse said.
Families keep coming back for the sandbox, Lego-style fort, slides and more, she said. Fouse has kept kids with sensory sensitivities in mind by using sand that is soft to the touch and offering a sensory swing where children can decompress with reduced light and noise. She sprinkles in special events, such as dance parties or breakfasts with well-known children’s characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.
” A closet in the event space holds a growing collection of costumes and mascot suits. Tarah Richardson suited up for the first time as “Trolls” character Princess Poppy when a TribLive reporter visited. “She’s my No.
1 employee,” Fouse said as Richardson ducked the character’s pointy pink hair under a door frame. “And my only employee.” The kids weren’t having it, including Fouse’s 3-year-old son, Kai.
That’s.
