Spring Creek Manufacturing was founded in 1985 by the Newberg family. They owned the business until Tom Sega took over in 2017.

“We had an idea to build the best camp saw on the market. We actually took every camp saw that was found out, because we’re very avid outdoors people, what did we like about the camp saws that were out there? And what didn’t we like? And we tried to take the best of the best and get rid of the worst of the worst. We came up with the tough camp saw, which we believe is the best camp saw out there,” said Sega. “So that’s what got us to get to know the Newbergs. They decided, ‘hey, we’re going to exit the business, and would you be interested in maybe taking it over?'”

Since the beginning, Spring Creek Manufacturing has focused on paddle sports. The first product was a dual-purpose seat yoke made by Ted Newberg, the founder of the company.

“There are no good yokes on the market. Everyone who canoes, and for all the Boundary Waters people who are going up right now, we all know that the yoke digs into the back of your neck,” said Sega. “He came up with an idea of this, where not only do you pull the pads apart, and you put your head through, and it’s the most comfortable portage yoke you will ever use, because all of the weight’s distributed, and these are padded. But when you get to the end of the portage, you literally pop the little pin on the end, flip it over, push the pads back together, and if you’re solo, you have the most comfortable solo seat in a canoe that you will ever be on.”

Canoe stabilizers are among the most popular products sold.

“What we’re trying to do is actually just broaden the scope so more people know about this small company. We can continue to grow it. One of the areas it has grown in is in these fishing derbies for kayaks and canoes,” said Sega. “As an example, with the stabilizer units that will keep you from rolling a kayak over or a canoe over, a lot of these folks want to stand up and be able to cast and fish. So the stabilizers have really taken off on the coast.”

Spring Creek Manufacturing has also expanded their stabilizer products into the stand-up paddleboard industry. Other products have been added to the line, many of which were requested by customers.

“It was customers saying, you know, we love what you build there. What about a drop-in seat where I can have my children where they don’t have to sit in the bottom of the canoe?,” Sega explained. “Right to the motor mounts. A lot of people were coming to us saying, we’d love to have a motor mount that would just clamp on, we can take it on and off.”

The business also started a section of the company for industrial truck racks. The motivation to innovate continues with the potential adding new products as needed.

“Our machinery is designed for specific uses, for specific manufacturing functions. So we’ll make that product for a customer, and we’ll design it so that it works within manufacturing so we can actually make it. But then it also is the functionality that the customer needs,” said Sega. “We listen to the customer, we build prototypes, we try them out, and if we see a viable market for it, then we go into full production.”