For the second straight year, the Beelman family has won the annual Leelanau Enterprise Snowfall Contest.
This time, Jay Beelman of Suttons Bay, earned the win with a correct guess of 145.5 inches of snow he forecast way back in November.
The total reached 145.5 inches on the last few days to give Beelman the win on the April 15 conclusion.
The contest is measured by the Michigan State Horticulture Research Station.
“This is a really great contest and we do it with our children and now I have some bragging rights,” he said.
Last year, Jay’s wife, Dionne Beelman, won the snowfall contest with a correct guess of 128.5 inches.
“I had to listen to my wife brag all last year and she still tells people about it. I felt a lot of pressure and had a feeling this was going to be a higher snowfall year and it really means a lot to finally win it,” Jay said. “We live in Suttons Bay and it always seems like a hit or miss area. That March blizzard was a good one and we had a lot of snow to move.”
In a year of plentiful snow, the contest broke last year’s mark when a blizzard covered the peninsula with over two feet of snow.
The Beelmans participate in the snowfall contest year-in and year-out along with their children Jason and Courtney, who are currently living in Vietnam.
“We keep them updated weekly and they did research and they fully invested in competition and spent a considerable amount of time studying to get the best answers,” Dionne said.
Nevertheless, no matter the amount of research, dad knows best.
At least this year. Lonnie Rademacher of Lake Leelanau finished second in this year’s snowfall contest with 145.2 inches, while Rick Bryan of Cincinnati finished third courtesy of a tie-breaker with an estimate of 145 inches and 136 total points in the 2026 men’s basketball national championship game to win $100 and $50, respectively.
Total snowfall was measured between October 15, 2025 through April 15, 2026.
The Michigan Wolverines defeated the University of Connecticut 69-63 for a total combined score of 132. The snowfall contest tiebreaker includes guesses of the total of the men’s championships game.
Anita Risbridger won the coveted signed copy of Ken Scott’s Back Pages of Leelanau County after breaking a four-way tie by guessing the mens basketball national championship would have a total of 127.
As the first place winning entry, Beelman will be awarded $200.
Nearly 500 entries were received for the contest.
This is the fourth time in the past six years the Beelman family has entered the contest and are now back-to-back champions.
“This has been a family inclusive adventure with one of daughters and her husband. They live here with us for several months of the year and are nomads, traveling the world, for the rest of the year. They’re currently in Vietnam, but will be here for 3 months this summer. Jason is from England. He’d never seen snow like we get here. They are both very invested and intrigued by this competition. Every Wednesday I send my children the new weekly updated totals. Thank you for providing such a fun thing for our family and community,” Dionne Beelman, the now former snowfall champion, said. “Jay and I have broken out into giggles so many times in the last 24 hours regarding our back to back snowfall prediction wins. How fun is that?”
