LOCAL FARMING COUPLE SHARES A STORY RIGHT OUT OF ‘KISMET’
DONORA CROATIAN CLUB HOME TO UNIQUE SPORTING VENUE
DUO OFFERS CHANCE TO ‘ESCAPE REALITY’ WITH LOCAL BUSINESS
SOL WELLNESS CENTER OFFERS HEALING IN MANY WAYS
DUO OFFERS CHANCE TO ‘ESCAPE REALITY’ WITH LOCAL BUSINESS
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DONORA CROATIAN CLUB HOME TO UNIQUE SPORTING VENUE
from the editor
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LOCAL FARMING COUPLE SHARES A STORY RIGHT OUT OF ‘KISMET’
26
SOL WELLNESS CENTER OFFERS HEALING IN MANY WAYS
MAY/JUNE 2026
122
Washington, PA 15301
724.222.2200 issuu.com/observer-reporter
EDITOR
Trista Thurston
tthurston@observer-reporter.com
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Carole DeAngelo
CONTRIBUTORS
April Barbe
Michele Gillis
Dave Zuchowski
THE LITTLE PLACES THAT KEEP OUR REGION ALIVE
Scrolling through LinkedIn the other day, I came across a really interesting tidbit: small businesses account for 43.5% of U.S. gross domestic product.
That’s the thing about shopping local. It’s never just a transaction. Small businesses are the backbone of economic growth, job creation and innovation.
In our corner of the world, businesses are often woven right into the fabric of the community. The person ringing up your purchase might also be sponsoring the local Little League team. The cafe owner might be the one hosting fundraisers for the fire department. The shop you visit during the holidays might have been there long before many of us moved to town.
I’ve always loved wandering through local shops, especially the ones tucked along our small-town main streets. Sometimes you go in for one thing and leave with something entirely different. Sometimes you leave with a new recommendation for a restaurant, a local event you hadn’t heard about or a friendly conversation that brightens your day.
And honestly, those moments are part of what makes a place feel like home.
Local businesses carry a lot on their shoulders. They weather unpredictable seasons, shifting trends and the everyday challenges of running a company. Yet many still manage to greet customers by name and ask how the family is doing.
That kind of care can’t be packaged in a box or shipped overnight.
So the next time you need a gift, a cup of coffee or even just a place to browse for a few minutes, consider stopping into one of the many businesses that make our region special. You never know what you might discover — or who you might run into while you’re there. As always, I’d love to hear your story ideas or suggestions. Feel free to reach out at 724222-2200 ext. 2421 or tthurston@observer-reporter.com.
Take care, and happy exploring.
Photo by Dave Zuchowski
Duo offers chance to ‘escape reality’ with local business
By April Barbe
Looking for a way to escape the everyday hustle and bustle? Look no further than 5th Street Escape Room in Charleroi, where you can literally escape!
“People play to escape reality, and that is exactly why they come to escape rooms,” said co-owner Amy Matay.
Matay and Joe Palone, the new owners of the business, are excited to offer the area a fun place to enjoy with family and friends.
“5th Street Escape Room wants players to enjoy their time and experience,” Matay said. “Completing an escape room is rewarding, and we want our players to experience the whole story. We do this by making sure our stories are interesting, and the puzzles and clues all make sense.”
She added that, originally, escape rooms were mostly puzzle-heavy, always with the game master against the players. She said this method created difficult puzzles designed to
stump the players. While there are still some of these escape rooms around, 5th Street Escape Room likes to offer experiences that feel more like a story than a puzzle.
5th Street Escape Room is in an old bank building that’s more than 100 years old. It also has a working vault, Matay and Palone said.
The business includes two rooms available to book, with an additional room under construction. Two more rooms are planned for later in 2026, according to Matay and Palone.
Matay said the building has three floors, with escape rooms on each floor, and all the rooms have a different theme.
“The Witch’s Stone” tells of a renowned fortune teller who trapped a witch in a stone to use her power. But the witch escaped, and your team has to trap her once again.
“Meatlocker” is a two-person-only room where you find yourself in a meat locker and have to play the game to get
Photos courtesy of 5th Street Escape Room
out. It is similar to the plot of the “Saw” movies, Matay added.
The “Cabin” theme will be lost novice hikers who find a cabin to stay safe in until help arrives, but all is not what it seems.
Matay said she and Palone are moving away from a traditional escape room experience, where rooms have a theme but are clearly escape rooms.
For example, an Egyptian theme using modern locks, or a speakeasy theme with an electronic placement puzzle. Instead, they are opting for a more realistic and immersive adventure, they said.
“The flow of
the game is also important to ensure there isn’t too much downtime or not enough time for all players to participate. We watch and listen to players intensely and will help our players along with immersive hints, often in a character that is suited to that room,” Matay said. When a team escapes a room, they get to graffiti the business’s wall with their team’s name, and they get bragging rights, of course.
“Most of our teams do escape! We get players from 8 to 80, though for our spookier rooms we recommend 13 and up,” she said.
The “Meatlocker” room is $50 for the experience total. Other rooms are charged $30 per player.
“Interactive entertainment has expanded over the past 50 years and has typically been sports-related; think bowling, arcades, laser tag, etc, with a goal of scoring more than your opponent,” she said.
Meanwhile, Matay said immersive haunted houses and similar attractions have “significantly increased as well in this market.” She added that escape rooms blend interactive
entertainment with immersion to create an immersive game. 5th Street Escape Room also offers team building for large events.
According to 5thstreetescaperoom.com, there are several reasons escape rooms are ideal for team building.
• Puzzles require logic and reasoning
• Escape rooms emphasize natural leadership
• A time limit builds critical and creative thinking
• The rooms require a range of skills and personality types
• Like in a workplace, communication is key to success
• Escape rooms are fun and immersive
Those interested may book online at 5thstreetescaperoom.com, call 724-483-4618, or book in person during business hours. 5th Street Escape Room is located at 434 Fallowfield Avenue.
Donora Croatian Club home to unique sporting venue
When a group of Croatian residents in Donora built a social club back in 1951, they included a first-floor section reserved for six lanes of duckpin bowling. The much-used lanes have been in continuous operation ever since.
“I lived four houses up from the club and, at age 13, began setting pins for the club as did many of the other kids in the neighborhood,” said Tom Nobili of Donora, who now serves as the lanes’ manager.
“Back then, the manager let us bowl before we set pins,” he added. “It’s something we allow our pin boys to do even today.”
The term “pin boy” might be a bit mis leading. A few years ago, three or four girls actually set pins for the club, including one girl in the first half of last year.
Duckpins, named for their re semblance to a flock of ducks taking flight when hit, are 9 inches tall, 6 than the better-known ten pins. Both versions of bowling have 60-foot-long lanes.
According to Nobili, the
pounds, and inches. During team play at the club, the house makes balls available to the bowlers, but some people bring their
“Compared to duckpin bowling, 10-pin bowling is so much easier,” he said. “Just compare the scores of the two. We’ve also had a lot of good ten-pin bowlers come in and say how much hard-
Currently, the club uses plastic pins on the lanes. Five years ago, Jose Garcia of Donora bowled at the club but complained about the pins. When he passed, he left the club money for
Currently, the club offers members mixed-couples bowling on Tuesday evenings starting at 6:30. About 30 bowlers are divided into six teams that compete for 20 weeks, divided into two 10-week sessions. During the summer, the teams do not compete because people are
Tom Nobili showing the difference between a wooden and plastic duckpin
away on vacation or busy with other activities.
“It’s a good league with a good bunch of people,” Nobili said. “We have a fun time and schedule pizza parties, a Christmas party and a party at the end of the season.”
A new bowler who joined just this year, Lisa Biernisky of Donora, said she and her husband, Chris, had been on the waiting list wanting to get in, and now that they’re members, they come in every
Tuesday to bowl.
“I’ve bowled 10-pins before, but find duckpins harder but more fun,” she said. “People on the teams here are super supportive. When I wake up on Tuesday morning, I know it’s going to be a good day because I know I’ll be bowling that evening.”
Lisa’s husband, Chris, said he never bowled duckpins before this year. “I saw it for the first time last year, and am glad I joined. I like the way people
cheer one another on here at the club. When I first started out, my scores were in the 60s. Now they’re in the 80s.”
Bowler Ann Gaydos of Donora says she gets a kick out of the way her team captain and fellow Donoran, Philip “Chilly” Racioppi, reacts when he misses a score. “He’ll throw his hat in the air and jump around,” she said.
The general public can rent the lanes for events such as birthday parties and family
get-togethers. The minimum rental is for 16 bowlers, but the alleys can accommodate up to 42. At a birthday party for Rose Voyanski, 96 years old at the time, the nonagenarian threw several balls down the alley. To reserve a bowling outing or for more information, call the club at 724-379-4871.
A couple of times a year, the club opens the lanes to the public. Bowlers should sign up in advance for the
Pin setter Damon Lease of Donora
two-hour session, which costs $12 per person. To find out when the next public open house will occur, go to facebook.com/thecroclub.
To keep the lanes ready for bowling, the club oils them every couple of weeks. In their heyday in the 60s and 70s, when the lanes were busy six evenings a week, the club sanded and redid them every three years.
In the 1950s, the area sported a duckpin league with 18 teams that traveled around to venues in towns like Uniontown, Monessen, Richeyville and McKeesport.
Since then, interest in the sport has waned. According to the Maryland-based National Duckpin Bowling Congress, there were 1,515 leagues nationwide in 2015, down by more than 500 since the late 1960s.
The Cro Club, as it’s fondly called, is one of the last bastions of the sport in the region, which prompted the memory of a recent event by Nobili. It seems that the coach for a girls’ rugby team from Wayne State College in Nebraska was a duckpin bowling fan. While he and his team were in Greensburg for a tournament, he searched for a place to take his team to introduce them to the game.
In his search, he found the lanes at the American Croatian Citizens Club in Donora were open and scheduled an outing for him and his team. Everyone, according to Nobili, had a great time.
For more information, phone the Donora Croatian Club at 724379-4871.
Linda Yocolano throwing a ball
Tom Nobili and Bowling League President Alex Carlsen outside the bowling lanes
Bowlers enjoying a game
Mykel Haney throwing a ball
DIGESTIVE HEALTH
Jungmin L. Lee, M.D.
If you’ve been experiencing any of these symptoms, EGD could be the key to uncovering the cause and finding relief.
L. Lee, M.D. Gastroenterologist, Pittsburgh Gastroenterology Associates
Imagine you’ve been struggling with heartburn or discomfort in the stomach, and despite trying different remedies, the symptoms just won’t go away. This is where Upper Endoscopy (EGD) can help. EGD is a medical procedure that lets doctors examine your upper digestive system— the esophagus, stomach, and the beginning of the small intestine. With the help of a thin, flexible tube with a camera, inserted gently through your mouth while you’re under sedation, doctors can get a close look to find out what might be causing your symptoms.
Acid Reflux and the Role of EGD
For many people, the story starts with acid reflux—when stomach acid escapes into the esophagus, leading to heartburn. Some may also experience symptoms like a cough, a feeling of a lump in the throat, or even hoarseness. While acid reflux is common, untreated, it can lead to serious conditions like esophagitis or Barrett’s esophagus, a precursor to esophageal cancer. If acid reflux persists or new symptoms arise, your doctor may recommend an EGD to determine if these more severe conditions are present and ensure you get the right treatment.
Swallowing Difficulty and EGD for Diagnosis
Imagine sitting down to a meal and suddenly feeling like food won’t go down smoothly. This is a common experience for those with difficulty swallowing, a symptom that may be caused by esophageal narrowing, motility (peristalsis) issues, or something more serious like cancer. EGD allows doctors to directly see what’s happening inside the esophagus, identifying blockages, inflammation, or growths early, which is crucial for proper treatment and avoiding serious complications.
Abdominal Pain, Indigestion, and the Importance of EGD
Now consider a different scenario: you’ve been dealing with indigestion—nausea, bloating, or stomach pain that seems to linger. While indigestion often stems from benign causes like diet or stress, sometimes it’s a sign of more serious conditions like gastritis, ulcers, or even stomach cancer. EGD helps doctors rule out these more severe issues, ensuring that any potential problems are caught early and treated effectively.
If you’ve been experiencing any of these symptoms, EGD could be the key to uncovering the cause and finding relief. Talk to your doctor, call 412-232-8104, or visit https://www.pghgastro.com/ to schedule an appointment at Spartan Health Surgicenter with the specialists from Pittsburgh Gastroenterology Associates
Pittsburgh Gastroenterology Associates: 2589 Boyce Plaza Road, Suite 5 Pittsburgh PA 15241 • 412-232-8104 office
Spartan Health Building 100 Stoops Drive, Suite 280 Monongahela PA 15063 • 412-232-8104 office
Stomach Ulcer Normal Stomach Stomach Cancer
Jungmin
Serving the Mon Valley since 2005, Spartan Health Surgicenter is a freestanding, Medicare certified, Joint Commission accredited, ambulatory surgery center located off of Coyle Curtain Road in Carroll Township.
Spartan strengthens the convenience of health care in the Mon Valley Community by providing greater comfort, more privacy and a relaxed environment for outpatient surgery center patients.
• Experienced physicians, nurses and anesthesiology staff
• State-of-the-art equipment and procedures
• Joint Commission Accredited
• FREE and convenient parking
• Comfortable waiting area for families
SPECIALTIES INCLUDE:
• Ophthalmology (Cataract, Glaucoma, Corneal)
• Pain Management • Gastroenterology
• Orthopaedics • General Surgery • Podiatry
Patrick Garman, M.H.A. Executive Administrator
Jamie Farmer, R.N. Director of Nursing
Vincent Ripepi, D.O. Medical Director
MEDICAL STAFF
Orthopaedic Surgery:
Derrick Fluhme, MD
Greg Habib, DO
Patrick McCullough, MD
Anthony Mustovish, DO
Ari Pressman, MD
Vince Ripepi, DO
Ophthalmology: Aaron Wang, MD
Thomas Findlan, DO
Angela Gauthier, MD
Nisha Dhawlikar Gosai, MD
Anagha Medsinge, MD
Julia Polat, MD
General Surgery: Prakorb Isariyawongse, MD
Pain Management: Anthony Cuneo, MD
Gastroenterology: Nicholas Bellicini, DO
Mark Cedar, MD
Bridger Clarke, MD
Jungmin Lee, MD
Lisa Oliva, DO
Theresa Schuerle, DO
Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery has several options to suit your needs. We offer mausoleum, burial, monuments, flush memorials, and cremation options for Catholics.
Pre-planning for your eventual needs is the wiser choice! Pre-need planning benefits include special savings and interest-free payment options! Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
JANOSIK’S PHARMACY
Local farming couple shares a story right out of ‘Kismet’
Fred and Sheila (Harden) McConn both came from farm families. As a youngster, Fred grew up on a dairy farm in West Alexander; Sheila spent her childhood on a 77-acre cattle farm in Deemston that her parents bought in 1964.
The Hardens also grew tomatoes, potatoes and sweet corn and were part of the original Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association of Washington County. With both Sheila and Fred coming from an agrarian background, it’s not surprising that they first met at a county fair.
“I was 12, and Fred was 13 at the time, and I went to the Greene County Fair to see if any of my canned veggies won an award,” Sheila said. “While there, I walked through the cattle barns and accidentally dropped my handkerchief. Fred picked it up, handed it back to me and we became instant friends.
Fred’s family made the county fair circuit, and Sheila kept in
Dave Zuchowski
touch with him by attending several fairs. One time, when Fred was attending the West Alexander Fair, Sheila found out he was having a birthday and went there to surprise him. When she got there, she found him talking to another girl, which she misinterpreted. Even so, the misunderstanding broke her heart.
“After that, we went our separate ways, and I didn’t see him for another 15 years,” Sheila said.
Over the years, both Sheila and Fred married different spouses, had children and then divorced. One day, after all this had happened, Sheila bumped into Fred with his kids, and they eventually got back together. On September 24, 2025, they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by going on a trip to Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.
When Sheila was 5, her parents moved into the current Harden Family Farm off Wickerham Road near Deemston. To sell the
Story and photos by
The plants are in the initial stage sof growth in the high tunnel greenhouses
produce they grew, they built a little stand just up the road, which Sheila’s father maintained for years.
Future plans, however, called for the construction of a little red barn across from the farm where they could properly wash, package and display their products, including Sheila’s homemade jams and jellies and Fred’s eggs and poultry.
Things went awry in 2003, when Sheila’s dad had unplanned heart surgery. When he became too weak to continue to farm, Fred stepped in to help save the crops already planted.
“Fred was willing to listen and learn from Dad, who let him take over,” she said. “Fred enjoys farming, which is really his gift to the world.”
Before the Little Red Barn opened in 2017, Sheila’s dad died from complications from a heart attack. “He never saw his dream come to fruition, not even the very beginning,” Sheila said.
Besides manning the Little Red Barn on weekends, Fred also
takes his farm products to the farmers markets in Monongahela, Charleroi and Waynesburg. Sheila, too, has her hands full as a farmer’s wife and the operator of a beauty salon out of her house. She also finds time to enjoy one of her greatest passions — theater.
“As a kid, I liked to sing and, later, played the flute in the school orchestra and performed as a majorette with the Beth-Center High School band,” she said. “For ten years, I also sang in the choir at Saint Catherine Drexel Church in Bentleyville.”
Sheila first got into acting when she saw an ad calling for auditions for a role in “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” at California University of Pennsylvania, now PennWest California. After auditioning, she landed the role of the maid in the Fezziwig household in December 2010.
“I had a blast and loved it,” she said. “So much so, I was in the cast three of the five years it was presented at Cal U.”
After her stint in “A Christmas Carol,” she was smitten by the acting bug and looked around for another place to perform. An ad in the Observer-Reporter placed by the Washington Community Theatre announcing a 2011 production of “Evita” caught her attention. She auditioned for a role and was cast as “a lady of the night,” which required seven costume changes.
“Since 2011, I only missed one year of performing with the WCT,” she said.
One of her favorite moments as a singer occurred on May 4, 2019, at Trinity High School. That’s when the Washington Symphony Orchestra staged a Back to Broadway program, which had her sing with a chorus the song with an extra-lengthy title, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Another highlight she recalls came with the role of Frieda, the madwoman in “Urinetown,” performed with Washington Community Theatre in 2017.
Sheila likes to stay busy even in rehearsal and production downtime. To keep busy, she crochets “scrapafghans,” made from scraps of material she accumulates. She also likes to make tote bags from Fred’s old blue jeans.
“For a production of ‘Hairspray,’ I reset about 40 wigs for the show,” she said.
“In theater, I feel like I’ve found a home,” she said. “Fred has been very supportive of me, and I like to take his produce and eggs to rehearsal and sell them when the cast calls and tells me to bring them some stuff.”
The Little Red Barn at Harden Family Farm and Market, 77 Wickerham Road in Deemston, is open weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, visit Harden Family Farm and Market on Facebook.
Sheila and Fred McConn behind the counter in the Red Barn Market
Sheila and Fred in one of the high tunnel greenhouses
Sheila holding one of her jars of jelly
Sheila and Fred in the field in mid-April with onions off to a good start
June 3
W&J College Ballroom
Summer Concert Series
June 14 & August 1
Downtown Washington
Community Pavilion
Founding Day June 27
Downtown Uniontown
Corks & Kegs
August 28, 29 & 30
Hollywood Casino at the Meadows
Farm To Fork
September 12
Thistlethwaite Vineyards
Best of the Best November 19
Holiday Market December 12
Downtown
SoL Wellness Center offers healing in many ways
By Michele Gillis
Photos courtesy of SoL Wellness Center
When you enter SoL Wellness Center, you immediately feel an overwhelming sense of calm and relaxation as your eyes take in the aesthetics and your soul searches for what it might need that day.
You may want to relax in a zero-gravity chair in the salt cave for a while, thumb through a book on crystals, get a relaxing massage or peruse the tables full of crystals, soaps and candles to buy a gift for a friend.
Beth Gehrman opened the SoL Wellness Center six years ago with her husband of 33 years and business partner, Jukka Akkanen, a software engineer at Apple. Patrick Van Dyke is her other partner and a certified herbalist.
Gehrman took an interesting path to her wellness center.
“You kick back in your zero-gravity chair and fall asleep, breathe, do whatever,” said Gehrman.
Lisa Bankston is a frequent flyer to the salt cave and highly recommends it.
“I had heard about the healing properties of the Himalayan salt,” said Bankston. “It’s stress-relieving, which is healing. I have neck, back and skin issues, and it helped with them as well. It’s very relaxing. Everyone I have introduced to it has felt relief, loved it and
She was a software engineer for many years. Then she became a veterinary technician. When she had a dog that needed massages, she became a licensed massage therapist, which led her to open a wellness center.
“Part of the time I’m like, why didn’t I do this sooner, because this is where I should have been, but you know what? It wasn’t when I was supposed to be here,” said Gehrman. “It didn’t happen until it was supposed to. So, I am very grateful that it did happen.”
The salt cave is not actually a cave, but a room with 15,000 pounds of Himalayan salt. The salt is in bricks on the walls, backlit with soothing lights. There is about six inches of salt on the floor, like a beach. Visitors to the room relax in zero-gravity chairs. The room is set up for six people but can accommodate eight.
While you’re in the salt cave, they turn the lights down, and there is pleasant spa music playing over the speakers.
wants to go back.”
A salt cave session is technically called halotherapy. This dry salt therapy uses a halo generator to micronize 99.99 percent pure salt into tiny particles that are circulated through the air.
This dry salt aerosol is said to help with respiratory and skin conditions.
Alan Crise was introduced to the salt cave by some friends a few years ago.
“Originally, I wanted to go there just to relax and listen to calming music while I meditated or chatted with a friend,” said Crise. “After about 10 minutes into my first session, I noticed my sinuses beginning to clear up. I have a history of sinus issues due to allergies, so the cave has definitely been a blessing.”
The SoL Wellness Center website explains the process: as the dry salt passes through the respiratory tract, it acts
The Salt Cave has 15,000 pounds of Himalayan salt in bricks on the walls, backlit with soft lights, allowing visitors to kick back and relax while enjoying the benefits of halotherapy.
like a pipe cleaner, removing the buildup of foreign substances that can cause respiratory concerns. It may help to reduce inflammation and widen airway passages. This can result in higher oxygen intake, improved immune systems and increased energy. Dry salt is antibacterial and may dissolve bacteria in the respiratory tract, which can result in coughing up the bacteria and pollutants or naturally expelling them from the body.
Crise said the salt cave is definitely a great place to relax and get away from it all, while helping you feel better.
“I am proof that it can help with sinus problems,” said Crise. “I have heard other people say it helped with skin problems they were having.”
If you suffer from COPD, emphysema, allergies, asthma, or colds and flu, the salt cave can help reduce phlegm and open airways.
Gehrman had a personal reason for building the salt cave in her wellness center. Her husband suffers from pulmonary sarcoidosis, an idiopathic inflammatory disorder.
“It can present anywhere in the body,” said Gehrman. “But for most folks, it lands in their lungs. So, for him, it’s very beneficial. So, that’s why we built it.”
The air in the salt cave is recycled, and
the chairs and the room are sanitized between each session.
Another benefit of the salt cave is for people with skin issues such as eczema or psoriasis.
“Skin seems to respond well to the salt therapy,” said Gehrman. “Normally, we say to wear whatever you want. If you are looking for something to help your skin, you would want to expose that area. Let’s say you had eczema on your forearm; you would want to go in and make sure you had a short-sleeved shirt on or something you could roll up to expose whatever area you were trying to get the benefits for.”
Gehrman said one of her clients told her that her skin felt like she had been at the beach for a week after just 45 minutes.
She recommends that, after visitors get whatever is ailing them under control, they come every two weeks or once a month for maintenance.
In general, the salt cave’s oxygen-exchange benefits help expand lung capacity and support general respiratory hygiene.
SoL Wellness Center’s Rare Goods gift shop is complete with crystals, books, art from local artists,
The SoL Wellness Center gift shop offers healing books, stones, jewelry and handmade soaps
SoL Wellness Center offers a variety of massage services
handmade soap, candles and more.
“On my first visit, I was amazed by the Rare Goods gift shop,” said Crise. “There are so many unique items. It is my go-to place for gifts for my grandkids.”
The wellness center, which opened six years ago, offers massage, craniosacral therapy, reflexology and Reiki. All Sol Wellness Center massages incorporate Swedish, deep tissue and trigger point therapies.
Something new they will be offering is Yomassage, which is a combination of restorative yoga poses, mindfulness meditation and massage.
“I highly recommend getting a massage,” said Crise. “I’ve had massages done by all of the therapists and every one of them is highly skilled. My old body definitely feels better after a good massage. Sometimes after a massage, I like to pop into the salt cave for what I call a double-header. Probably the thing about SoL that I would recommend the most is the owner, Beth. She got into this business to help people. She really cares about each and every client.”
Gehrman knew the community needed a place like her wellness center, and she wants to give the community what they need.
“When we moved here, I moved into a small space nearby and just did massage,” she said. “I just kind of had my ear to the ground in terms of
The SoL Wellness Center gift shop offers healing books, stones, jewelry and handmade soaps
what the community needs. I knew I wanted to do this. I really want this to feel like it is not just our place with a little ‘o.’ I want the community to feel like it’s Our place with a big ‘O.’ I want them to feel like they could come in and say, ‘Hey, have you guys ever thought of this?’ If it’s something that we can offer, we will look into it.”
The SoL Wellness Center also has a large activity room for classes about crystals and other activities. They also offer Reiki sound baths and free meditation classes in the salt cave.
Her partner, Van Dyke, is in school earning his master’s degree in acupuncture and will be a doctor of Chinese medicine in the fall of 2027. There is a plan in place to add acupuncture to their list of modalities late next year.
They purchased the building and renovated it to create the wellness center from its former use as an Italian restaurant. But those who visit the building wouldn’t know it is only halfway renovated, which means there is more to come.
“We are still working on it,” said Gehrman. “Oh, we’re about halfway through our renovations. We have half of the building to finish up. It is quite an undertaking.”
Hours are Mondays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays to Thursdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed on Sunday.
SōL Wellness Center is located at 4063 State Rt 51 in Rostraver. Visit sol-massage.com/saltcave for more information.
The SoL Wellness Center gift shop offers healing books, stones, jewelry and handmade soaps