Karen Wils photo The whole family with the Stormy Kromer look from 2017.

ESCANABA — The Stormy Kromer. It is the ultimate fashion statement in Upper Michigan.

From deer season in November to Easter in April, Thousands and thousands of Kromers roam the city streets and back woods trails of the U.P.

There is a Stormy Kromer to fit each walk of Yooper life.

From the very educated snow sculpture building Michigan Tech students to the awesome athletic folks at Northern Michigan’s Luge run to the spectators holding their breath at Pine Mountain’s ski jumping competition to the wind-blown ice anglers on Little Bay de Noc… the Stormy Kromer caps them all.

They come in many colors to match personalities. Serious sooty black hats sit on the heads of dignified preachers, teachers, lawyers and businesspeople.

Carinal red is the color for adventurous folks. My dad wore a red one and now so does my brother Mark. Treks on snowshoes, skis and ice skates, hours in the fish shack, Boy Scout hikes, campouts and Klondike Derbies have taken place under these red Kromers.

There are buffalo plaid Stormy Kromers for the old-time deer hunters and blaze orange ones for modern gun slingers. Forest green and camo-green are other popular styles.

On top of my husband’s head sits a charcoal gray one with the silhouette of a beagle embroidered on the hatband.

My son Bob wears a dashing green plaid Kromer. I believe it is a lucky hat because many ice fishing pictures have Bob with the Kromer in place holding up nice fish.

Stormy Kromers can be pretty and feminine looking too. Some are white with black laces; some are lavender, or fuchsia adorned with flowers and a bow. Others have a sporty pewter SK clip on the hat band.

Timeless and tough, the Stormy Kromer will be a best friend for many, many winters. Everyone seems to remember just when and where they received their Kromer. Mine was a birthday present from my brother Mark. Mark’s Kromer, which must be about 40 years old, was a gift from a Northtown neighbor. She showed him the hat and asked him to try it on for size and told him she was buying it for her son (but it really was for Mark all along).

I have known for a long time that the Stormy Kromer hats were made right here in Upper Michigan, but I didn’t realize that they originated in the Milwaukee area. As the story goes a man named George “Stormy” Kromer was a semi-pro baseball player who became an engineer on the railroad.

His lovely wife Ida concocted a revised version of his baseball cap with a brim and ear flaps so it would be warm and not blow off his head zooming down the train tracks. From 1903 until the 1990s Kromers were made in Wisconsin. In 2001 Jacquart Fabric Products of Ironwood Michigan purchased the company when they learned the Stormy Krome line was going to be discontinued.

Now a giant Kromer cap dons the Ironwood area. The Stormy Kromer hat has become an icon in the Upper Midwest. It stands for a rugged independence and good taste. It is a warm wool hat to help folks laugh away the winter months.

Put on your Stormy Kromer and take on an outdoor adventure this weekend.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.