Tag Archives: fishing

A father, a daughter, a Kromer: it’s a little bit more than a Father’s Day gift.

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When other kids had to go to Disney World, a young Amanda Dinkel got to go to the U.P.

She grew up in Gladwin, Michigan, smack in the middle of the lower peninsula, with two older brothers and parents who loved the outdoors. Her father, Larry, who spent his days as an engineer, spent his life as a hunter and fisherman, and he often brought his kids out onto Superior or Huron for hours on end.

“We loved the outdoors, too, but he’d drag us on that boat, and we thought it was torture,” said Amanda, a middle-school reading teacher in Caro, Michigan, just an hour or so from her hometown. “We’d tell him ‘No, don’t take us. We’re gonna die!’”

Long days on a boat can be tough for any kid, but after her college graduation, Amanda set a goal for herself: to learn something her dad really loves and to have him teach her.

“I’m a girly-girl, but I wanted to connect with my dad. Fishing and hunting was a way to do that.”

It was on one of those trips—a venture to Larry’s favorite bear-hunting hideaway near the Keweenaw—when Amanda and her dad really found something to bond them.

“We stopped in Brevort for some smoked fish, and they had a whole selection of Kromer caps,” added Amanda. “I squealed! I’d been following Stormy Kromer on Facebook for a couple years, but this was the first I’d seen them. I was so excited. I got myself a Petal Pusher, hopped back in the car, and my dad said ‘Well, what did you get?’

“Naturally, being from Michigan, being an outdoorsman, he knew everything about Stormy Kromer—the caps, the gear, the history. There isn’t always a lot to talk about on that eight-hour stretch of road, but we now had Stormy Kromer in common. He just kept saying they were so cool.”

It wasn’t too long after that when Amanda ordered her father an Original in charcoal wool.

“My father is pretty simple in his wants and needs, so he isn’t always easy to shop for. But now there’s no question what to get him,” added Amanda. “I want to thank the people at Stormy Kromer for giving me an opportunity to bond with my dad. Kromer is our connection, and it’s authentic, through and through.”

Authentic. Just like Amanda and her dad.

Do you have a great Kromer Dad story to share??

Stormy Kromer Fan Feature

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Tim Santefort’s story isn’t a hundred years old, but it will be.

“It’s not a shrine!”

That’s what he tries to tell you about the framed Stormy Kromer poster surrounded by the dozen or so caps he and his family wear on a daily basis. “It’s a hat rack, that’s all.”

Maybe so, but it’s a hat rack worthy of homage in the Santefort household.

Tim, who works as an insurance and financial services representative in the east-central Illinois community of Watseka, isn’t who you’d picture as the traditional Stormy Kromer customer, and he didn’t get his first cap from his great-great grandfather, either. He’s a relative newcomer to the Kromer legend, and he did his homework before he ever went shopping.

“Let me start by saying I’m bald, and bald guys need serious protection from the elements. I needed something that would last—something that was more like a tool I could use than just a piece of clothing,” said Santefort. “So I researched every brand and all of Kromer’s competition. I loved the Stormy story and that it was hand-made in America . It also felt like I was dealing with friends from my very first order.”

There have been quite a few orders in the year or so since Tim first pulled down the famous ear-flaps, and they’ve been raising a few eyebrows around town.

“People come up to us in the grocery store and say ‘Well, would you look at that.’ They just love our caps.”

“It’s such a conversation-starter that my four-year old no longer waits to be asked: ‘It’s a Stormy Kromer,’ she’ll say to anyone who smiles at her.”

They’re the talk of the town, and Tim tweets frequently about his favorite headgear, but the stories that will be remembered are the adventures the Kromer-capped Santeforts share outdoors.

“We go hunting and fishing and camping together, and the first time my daughter caught a

fish, she was wearing her cap,” added Santefort. “She’ll never forget that.”

She probably won’t forget the time her dad wore his original wool cap to take a Polar Bear Plunge into a frozen Lake Michigan, either. Well, at least it kept his ears warm.

“I imagine after they’re grown up and I’m long-gone, my kids will see a Stormy Kromer cap and think of all the things they did with their dad.”

So maybe it is a shrine after all—honoring not just the family’s caps, but the memories that fill them. Or, as Tim puts it, “These little caps bind our experiences together and tie the memories tighter.”

And in a hundred years, the great-great grandkids will have much to remember.

What is your Stormy Kromer story? Share it in the comments.