Dionne Beelman of Suttons Bay is the winner of this year’s Enterprise annual snowfall contest, which officially came to a close on April 15.
Beelman’s guess for the total snowfall for the winter of 2024-25 was approximately 128.5 inches, and the amount happened to be the exact total snowfall for this season as measured by the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center.
Total snowfall was accounted for between October 15, 2024 through April 15, 2025. As the first place winning entry, Beelman will be awarded $200.
In second place, Bob Libutti of Leland won $100 with his guess of 128.6 inches. Donna Novak of Empire won third place and $50 for her guess of 128 inches, and Sonja Morton of Traverse City won fourth place and a signed copy of Ken Scott’s Back Pages of Leelanau County after guessing 129 inches. Nearly 500 entries were received for the contest.
Beelman submitted her entry along with her husband and two of her kids, noting that this was her third time entering into the Enterprise snowfall contest in the last five years. It was an activity everyone in her family could do, she said, and it was something fun to look forward to when tracking the snowfall throughout the season.
“Winters are long and this is just a really fun thing to watch — so we were just keeping track,” Beelman said. “I’ve been in contact with them (my kids) all day actually because I thought today was the deadline, and I kept telling them ‘I’m close, I’m close…’ Our kids live with us part time, and then they live in England part time, so every week when I get the paper, I give them updates on where everybody is with their predictions.”
Starting in December 2024, Leelanau saw significant snowfall accumulation each month. In December, the county received its first amass of snow totaling 36 inches, followed by even more snow, 39.5 inches, in January. About 30 inches of snow was recorded in February, and 17 inches recorded in March.
While Beelman didn’t have any particular strategies behind her snowfall prediction, she said she was just hoping for more snow than the county received in the previous year, which was a mere total of 62 inches. Next winter, Beelman said she thinks Leelanau is due for “a big winter,” and will definitely be entering into the snowfall contest again, adding that she’ll most likely recruit other family members to participate in the fun.
“I’m the primary driveway clearer in our home, so I didn’t want to wish for too much, so I guessed what I was comfortable with,” she said. “It was an absolutely beautiful winter and we thoroughly enjoyed following the contest.”
