Little Gym celebrates ‘Sweet Sixteen’ in Peters Township
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Joining the Sweet Sixteen celebration are, from left, Maya Burlingame, Anya Ekbote and Alexa McFerran.
Greeting well-wishers are, from left, Nicole Pero, Amy Martin, Katie Rullo and Erin Pierrard.
Unlike the exorbitant birthday extravaganzas once featured on the MTV series “My Super Sweet 16,” Amy Martin celebrated the anniversary of her Peters Township business in a relatively low-key manner.
“We just wanted to give people an opportunity to drive by and honk and wave and just say hi,” she said. “We weren’t able to get together, but we’re super happy to be here.”
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Passing motorists helped celebrate the anniversary.
She and staff members of the Little Gym of Pittsburgh-South Hills gathered in the Donaldson’s Crossroads parking lot for their own Sweet Sixteen event, greeting well-wishers on a warm April afternoon outside of the business’ location since 2005.
Joining her were Erin Pierrard, who has been part of the Little Gym team from the beginning, and Katie Rullo and Nicole Pero, both with nearly a decade at the enrichment and physical development center for children. Several high school students who are hired to assist with activities also took part.
“We’re celebrating our birthday milestone and our reopening-from-the-pandemic milestone,” Martin said. “We’re at 75% capacity now, which works really well for us because our gym is big. We have 4,500 square feet, so we can fit a lot of people in there safely.”
Plans for a 15th-anniversary celebration were scrapped when the Little Gym closed for three months starting last March.
“We kept in touch with our customers daily. We texted. We emailed. We did virtual read-alongs and sing-alongs and classes, just to keep them engaged,” Martin said. “We were fortunate to be able to reopen in June with limited capacity, and we had a lot of guidelines that we followed. We still do it now, and it works.”
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Celebrating in the Donaldson’s Crossroads parking lot are Lily Pierrard, left, and Katie Belcher.
The guidelines include wearing masks, even outside during the Sweet 16 party.
“We clean in between classes,” Martin said. “We sanitize. We have air purifiers. We’re doing the best we can to keep everybody safe.”
Her location is among more than 400 franchises of the Little Gym, which was founded in 1976 by educator, musician and kinesiologist Robin Wes in Bellevue, Wash.
“We give them a safe, nurturing, fun place,” Martin said. “We promote personal wellness for these kids, and we are all about building confidence in a noncompetitive environment.”
Programs include parent-child classes, gymnastics, dance and sport skills classes, birthday parties and summer camps.
An Upper St. Clair High School graduate, Martin lives in Peters Township.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Abby Ricciuti, center, helps celebrate with, from left, Erin Pierrard, Nicole Pero, Abby Ricciuti, Katie Rullo and Amy Martin.