Building the Valley: Sia Center fills need for indoor children’s entertainment in Vandergrift

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 part of the unpredictability of having a kid-focused business.

“I’ve had (a child) signed up for the ‘Bluey’ party and they hid under a chair,” Fouse said, referring to the character from the popular TV series by the same name. “And some you have to pry off the character’s legs.”

Fouse and Richardson live on the same street in Apollo, but they weren’t particularly close before the Sia Center opened. Richardson lent her help transforming the space one day, then another, and, soon enough, Fouse put Richardson on the payroll.

“Our kids would play while we set everything up,” said Richardson, who has two girls. “As a mom, you’re always looking for something to take your kids to on a rainy day.”

Fouse agrees. She started the business, in part, to spend more time with Kai, but she also is an entrepreneur at heart.

One summer as a preteen, she earned $900 walking dogs. The plan was to spend it all in Florida on clothes and knickknacks she spotted the last time she visited with her mother.

“When I went to the shop, I didn’t spend more than $3,” Fouse said.

She worked three jobs through high school, graduated and opened a nail salon in Tampa, Fla. When Kai was born, she closed the business and moved back to the Pittsburgh area.

“Once the right idea came into my head, I couldn’t wait to open another,” Fouse said.

So far, the Sia Center is filling a need in the community, visitors said.

Kim Staley of Washington Township, who brought her granddaughters, Lexi, 4, and Harper, 10, has stopped by several times in recent weeks.

“What if it’s pouring down rain?” Staley said. “Where are you going to go?”