For over a decade, the Mystery Dinner has been the Library’s signature annual fundraising event. This event sells out each year and typically takes place at the end of April.

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.