One of the downsides of the franchising of America is the resulting homogenization of our experience. The hotels, the restaurants and the big box retailers are definitely a far cry from the Americana of yesteryear. They are all the same, almost anywhere you go.
Fortunately, there are still some things that cannot be franchised and that are unique to certain areas. For instance, ice fishing is an abstract concept to a California native. Sure, ice fishing would appear in an occasional movie or television show, but it just didn’t seem real.
Then, last summer at the Lakeland Appreciation Day, I met the inventor of the Flirty Girty. Dave Sumner is an entrepreneur, extraordinaire, as he owns several businesses including a cable installation operation. Sumner is also a champion ice fisherman.
In this brief video interview, Sumner discusses ice fishing, the ice fishing community, and how technology, such as GPS, helps him position his ice-fishing house. He also explains some of the benefits of the Eskimo portable, pop-up, ice-fishing tent. In these times of non-stop chatter, I can definitely see the appeal of the stillness of a Wisconsin frozen lake and the warmth of a ice fishing chateau.
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