When the Boll Family YMCA opened in 2005, it was one of a few new destinations in what at the time was a pretty sleepy downtown Detroit. Fast forward a few years, and the Y has all kinds of new neighbors and the block is humming from the morning late into the night.
That creates opportunities for creative people like Leslie Wacker. She is a Y member who moved here from New York City, but has lived all over. She and her partner Kyle were drawn here by Detroit’s burgeoning bike culture. Together, they are launching a bike business called Freighty Cat Bikes, which builds purpose-built cargo bikes for all kinds of delivery businesses, or just for people who have to move goods around and want to use pedal power.
Leslie is using her bike for her new micro-distribution and promotion business, Bike-Ro Distro. She distributes flyers, menus, posters and the Y-Arts Newsletter, among other items, to businesses in the downtown area.
She’s a Y member at the Boll and grew up a “Y kid” in her hometown of Chicago, attending preschool as a child and being involved with aquatics as a teen and young adult. “I spent more time there than anywhere,” she says. Y-Arts was one of her first clients, after she ran into director Margaret Edwartowski one day when she came in to swim. Leslie has also played in punk bands, done mobile puppet shows with a stage built into her bike, and plays here with the Detroit Party Marching Band.
Leslie has lived all over the country, and says biking is a really great way to get to know a city and its people. In this famously car-centric city, she and Kyle moved here without a car until the Polar Vortex winter hit and getting around by bike was not only difficult, but dangerous.
She started doing promotion as a college student in New York, distributing flyers for college events and for friends with independent businesses. When she came here, she started Bike-Ro Distro as a good way to make some money and get to know people. She charges $1.50 for each location where she drops flyers and most clients request 30-50 drops, which is a cost-effective way for business owners to get their word out and lets them concentrate on running their business. She also barters with some clients, trading goods for her services. “I think it’s something that’s very much needed,” she says. “I think everyone gets overwhelmed by Facebook, text, etc.”
Detroit has been very welcoming, Leslie says. “It’s a combination of friendly, warm, welcoming, ambitious, and kind of non-judgmental,” she says. “It feels like people who move here and stay here are more accepting of people’s quirks.”
You can follow Leslie and Kyle’s adventures and learn more about their cargo bikes at freightycat.wordpress.com.