MYSTERY DINNER
For over a decade, the Mystery Dinner has been the Library's signature annual fundraising event.
Are you interested in getting involved? Email us at development@stoningtonfreelibrary.org
The 2024 Mystery Dinner was held on June 1, 2024
150 guests gathered at the Stonington Free Library for cocktails on Saturday evening, June 1, before heading off to a series of intimate dinner parties with friends, old and new. The occasion was the 14th annual Mystery Dinner fundraiser, organized by the 2024 Mystery Dinner Committee, whose volunteer members work tirelessly to create this unique event every year.
Upon arrival at the 6 pm cocktail party, guests were pleasantly surprised to see the library turned into the Grand Ballroom of NYC's famed Plaza Hotel, where they discovered the hosts and locations of their individual Mystery Dinners. At 7 pm, guests departed to 21 locations across Stonington, where they had the opportunity to meet friends and neighbors while enjoying delicious meals prepared by their hosts.
The Mystery Dinner began in 2009 and remains the Library’s signature annual fundraising event. This year's theme was “A BLACK & WHITE AFFAIR: SFL LOOKS BACK AT CAPOTE'S BALL,” replicating the masquerade ball held at the Plaza Hotel in 1966. Hosted by Truman Capote, a well-known author and social figure, the ball was in honor of The Washington Post's publisher Katharine Graham, and was attended by 400 of his friends including NYC socialites, journalists, politicians, business people, writers, authors, and musicians. Leading up to the ball, many guests attended one of sixteen small private dinner parties that Capote's friends had been drafted to host.
The Mystery Dinner continues to be the library's most popular event and has consistently sold out. As guests said of this year's event: "Terrific theme, fabulous decor, delicious hors d'oeuvres, and great community spirit filled the library!"
Nineteen dedicated volunteers made up this year's Mystery Dinner Committee, and over $27,500 was raised to support library services such as our digital collection of eBooks, audiobooks, music, movies, TV shows, magazines, newspapers and more.
Thanks to the 2024 Mystery Dinner Committee:
- Alejandra Welch
- Allegra Griffiths
- Andie Tomek
- Andrea Bunger
- Ann Buffum
- Anne Fix
- Barbara Ginsberg
- Barbara Heuer
- Beth Black
- Chris Turrentine
- Clare Sheridan
- Geraldine Nager Griffin
- Jenni Adkins
- Judy Westwood
- Julie Quinn
- Polly Dufresne
- Rory Contin
- Sage Williams
- Sally McBee
For over a decade, the Mystery Dinner has been the Library’s signature fundraising event. This event sells out each year.
The event began in 2009 as the brain-child of Ruth Saunders and Joyce Pandolfi, Library trustees who were looking to find a way to fill a hole in the budget. They drew on events in which they had each previously been involved and suggested a “Mystery Dinner” to the Library Board. Guests would have cocktails at the Library and dinner at a nearby house, and would only learn who their dinner hosts were at the cocktail party.
Most of the Trustees quickly volunteered to act as dinner hosts, and their enthusiasm was typical of everyone else involved. Given the Library setting, the first party had a theme of Great American Authors. Each year, the Mystery Dinner Committee chooses a theme, usually with a literary connection. Themes in the past have ranged from Alice in Wonderland to Hemingway in Spain and A Passage to India.
The feedback from that first event was so positive that the Mystery Dinner has become a cherished tradition in Stonington ever since – not only because it raises much-needed funds for the Library, but at the same time it introduces residents to new friends and neighbors and creates a wonderful sense of community.
