April 22 was the day whose quality was artfully affected by the Stonington Free Library’s 9th annual Mystery Dinner with its theme based on Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Approximately 145 ticket-holders gathered at 6pm for traditional drinks and hors d’oeuvres at the Library and, promptly at 7, dispersed to 19 appointed homes for sumptuous dinners that reflected this year’s theme.
Sibby Lynch was in charge of decorating the Library, which was done to a fare-thee-well with a horde of woodsy creatures, tools for survival in the wild, gardening and workshop accessories, lots and lots of greenery, a forest of branches, and streamers bearing thoughts from Thoreau’s books that have become adages for the present day. Thanks go to The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, Adam’s Garden of Eden, Cask N’ Keg, Russ Burgess and Clare Sheridan of Charles Schwab – Mystic (who sponsored the cocktail party), and to Barbara Heuer whose wondrous calligraphy was central to the décor.
Financially, the event was a booming success with ticket sales over $13,000 — a matter of importance to the Library. In addition, a “Giving Tree” poster was set up on which guests could post their “Giving Leaves” with pledges to fund replacing and updating some of the Library’s desktop computers with laptops and expanding the new book collection. This initiative raised more than $5,000.
Of course, it all comes down to the success of the dinner parties. This year we had the largest number of volunteer hosts and hostesses ever — 19! The guest lists were put together with the aim of combining guests who don’t often see each other, and may not even know each other. The food, the drink, the conversation, the meeting of new people and the just plain fun of it all was extraordinary. See you next year—our 10th!
Article Attribution: Charles Harding
