Help find person who correctly guessed when sculpture would break through Ham Lake

HAM LAKE, Minn. (KMSP) - Organizers of the annual winter festival in Ham Lake, Minnesota may have found the young girl who correctly guessed when a stainless steel sculpture would crack through the lake’s ice. 

The sculpture breakthrough contest is one of the highlights of the Ham Lake Snowbowl. Every year, a stainless steel sculpture is placed out on the frozen lake and people get to guess when it will crack through Ham Lake’s ice. The winner gets a check for $500. 

A mild winter caused the statue to drop into the lake earlier than normal. Amazingly, one person predicted the statue’s demise almost to the exact moment. The statue broke through on March 5 at 3:45 p.m. The winner guessed March 5 at 4 p.m., just 15 minutes off.

“That’s incredible,” Chris Mickman, the organizer of the Snowbowl, said.

But, the real mystery was the identity of the winner. The handwriting isn’t clear on what the name or telephone number of the entrant is. It looked like a “Lily Becker,” but the phone number contains a mish-mash of digits and no one has been able to locate her these last few weeks.

Now, the organizers think they may have found her. After seeing the Fox 9 story, the mother of a nine-year-old girl has come forward saying she thinks it may have been her daughter, Lila Becker.

The mother told organizers her daughter went to the festival with some neighbors and they may have gotten their phone numbers mixed up. She said she wasn't aware until seeing the story that her daughter had entered the contest. 

Organizers have yet to officially confirm the nine-year-old is the one they have been looking for. 

“Over the years, it seems like young kids guess the date,” Dave Estrada, the sculpture’s creator, said.  “It’s always fun giving a young kid a check for $500. The one kid said he’d never seen $500.”

A couple of local newspaper articles have not produced the winning prognosticator at this point. But, Mickman insists he won’t stop searching until he gets to hand over that winning check.

“We’re under a 'where’s Lily Becker contest' to find out where in the heck we can find her,” Mickman said.

So, the search continues for Lily Becker or whoever submitted this nearly spot-on guess.

If you know who it is, please contact the Ham Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. Below is the following contact information:

Shana Schmitz
Executive Director
Ham Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
shana@hamlakecc.org
Main: 763-434-3011
www.hamlakecc.org