Fun Slides Carpet Skatepark and Party Center

I'd intended for my first entry to be something on the cultural side.  Something refined.  Something high falutin'.  Something that is at least of a more publicly owned/operated nature.  However, I can't help myself but to begin with a post about our experience at the newly opened Greensburg location of the Fun Slides Carpet Skatepark and Party Center. 

In true Greensburger fashion, I will tell you that Fun Slides is located in the shopping center on East Pittsburgh Street, where Bobby Dales used to be.  (Henceforth, this will be known as Greensburg directions.)

The facility and how owner/creator Don "Smokey" Edwards came up with the idea (as well as hours, rates, etc.) are also covered in detail HERE in the Great Places in Westmoreland section of InWestmoreland.com.   You can also learn more at Fun Slides' website, http://www.funslidespark.com/, and you can connect with them on Facebook.  So although the internet already has sufficient information on this venue, I wanted to give my personal take on it.

Fun Slides has been open in Greensburg for several weeks, but it wasn't brought to our attention until my six-year-old daughter, Emily, was invited to a birthday party there.  Little sister, Cora (who will turn three in August), got wind of the fact that we were going to a party, so I had little choice but to take her along - even though I didn't know whether or not she either could or, more importantly would, participate.  Both girls ended up having such a blast I feared that manager Candy Holsing might have to summon the authorities to evict us from the premises.

First, I have to say that the concept is obviously brilliant.  Everyone I tell about it gets that smack-your-forehead, why-didn't-I-think-of-that? look on their face.  And the idea to use EZ Moves to skate on carpet ramps alone would have been sufficient.  But the owners really nailed the atmosphere with the groovy neons, crazy patterns and black lighting.  Fun Slides screams FUN as soon as you walk into the lobby.

"FUN!"

When you're new to Fun Slides, staff take you into the "novice" room to fit you with your rented Fun Slides and to help you get the hang of it on two simple ramps.  For smaller kids - or anyone who might be a little chicken about riding the ramps on their feet - they also have basic EZ Moves II^TM and EZ Moves Pull Slides^TM so you can opt to ride on your bum.

Emily was braver than I expected and was soon off to slide on both her feet and her rear. Here she is in a squatting position:

Cora used the slides on her feet only in the novice room where it was easy for me to hold her hands on the way down the little ramps.  After that, she and I rode the EZ Moves Pull Slide^TM    together until she figured out that she could do it on her own!  Later, she tried to get rid of me completely, adamantly telling me to go somewhere else.  She apparently really wanted to let her inner daredevil out by doing crazy stuff such as this:

Yes, I'm the bad mother to sat by and watched her two-year-old

slide on her belly, face first.

But what I liked most of all about Fun Slides was the overall positive atmosphere.  The young people (who appeared to be high school and college students) working there were fabulous.  They were not only helpful to the kids, they were engaging.  Among other things, they were leading the kids in dances - and they weren't just going through the motions.  They were into it.  It was apparent that Fun Slides hires staff who genuinely enjoy kids and their jobs at the skate park. 

This is Andrew, leading some of the partiers in a line-type dance. Later, he got my daughter

to quit pouting about a boo-boo on her finger through a silly "examination" of the injury!  Andrew rocks!

Finally, the music being played was loud without being deafening, and all of the upbeat, dance rhythms were kid-friendly in terms of artists and lyrics.  I even heard Christian recording artist TobyMac, which I later learned shouldn't have been surprising, as the owners include a Biblical scripture on their main website.  Personally, I find it refreshing when business owners are comfortable revealing their faith and channeling it into the operations of their businesses.

My girls and I cannot wait to go back to Fun Slides Skatepark and Party Center.  If you haven't yet been there, you should definitely check it out soon.  Maybe we'll see you there!

Me, making a black light fish face just for fun.