Project "Ricky"
Curated Tours
We offer customized tours of downtown Winston-Salem based on what the passenger's interests are. Some of the staples include food, breweries, art, history, and sometimes a seasonally themed ride. We can also do many other types rides so if you're wanting to book Sparky's Rickshaw Co. for a tour or an event, you can head over to the website at sparkysrickshaw.co, call or text at (336) 422-3788, or email sparkysrickshaw@gmail.com
Nightlife Shuttle
You can also find us wandering about downtown on Friday and Saturday nights from 10pm-2am, shuffling people from bar-to-bar or bar-to-car, but generally not far. We will sometimes pick people up and take them home in the downtown area as well. There's no set fare, just out hustling for tips so if you're out and need a ride, call or text Sparky's Rickshaw Co. at (336) 422-3788.
The Story
Originally, Jake purchased the rickshaw as a "side hustle" style of generating business income when not working on other projects like the Brag Wagon, keeping in-line with the BeersNGears business model.
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[In walks COVID]
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COVID pretty much stopped everything BeersNGears was doing. We still did advocacy work in the background--keeping up with legislation, sending emails, getting on zoom calls with leaders, etc.--but everything we did that was public facing (which is most of it) got put on a shelf, including the rickshaw. It sat for 2 years, almost untouched until things started opening back up slowly but surely. At that point, it needed some serious love and maintenance so Jake completely disassembled it and rebuilt it from the frame up. It got everything from sandblasting and powder coating to custom electric assist system built from scratch.
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We also decided to give it a fresh name, mainly to make it easier for marketing and branding but for some other reasons as well. We came up with the name "Sparky's Rickshaw Co." and used a sloth for the mascot. You can now find it downtown Winston-Salem every Friday and Saturday night (weather permitting) from
10pm - 2am, and also offering curated tours throughout the week.