MYSTERY DINNER 2026
One hundred and twenty-seven (127) guests gathered at the Stonington Free Library for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres on Saturday evening, April 25, before heading off to a series of intimate dinner parties in town with friends, old and new. The occasion was the 16th annual Mystery Dinner
Upon arrival at the 6pm cocktail party, guests were delighted to see the library dressed up in red, white, and blue, with featured portraits of American authors decorating the space. Many thanks to our Art Committee, led by Chair Polly Dufresne, who undertook the Herculean task of creating the set pieces and installing them for the pre-dinner cocktail party, featuring flowers, hand-cut stars, and a patriotic theme across the library.
It was so much fun to see our guests and committee members dressed up for the occasion, mingling with old friends, meeting new ones, and eagerly opening up their “mystery envelopes” to discover the names of their hosts and dining locations for the evening.
At 7 pm, guests departed to 18 locations across Stonington, where they had the opportunity to meet friends and neighbors while enjoying a delicious, authentic “revolutionary era” menu, reflecting the foods of the Anglo-American world of the 1770s — a time when ideas crossed the Atlantic as readily as goods. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was printed on colonial presses, read in taverns and parlors, and helped transform subjects into citizens. Dishes echoed the grounded, practical spirit of the age — food of households, farms, and communities rather than aristocracy. The menu reflected the foods and values of the Revolutionary generation — practical, communal, and quietly transforming the country.
The Mystery Dinner began in 2009 and remains the Library’s signature and most popular annual fundraising event, consistently selling out.
20 volunteers made up this year's Mystery Dinner
Thank you to our committee members, board members, volunteers, hosts, and guests for their support of this unique event!
Click HERE for photos of the event!
The Mystery Dinner continues to be the library's most popular event and has consistently sold out.
Thanks to the 2026 Mystery Dinner Committee:
- Andrea Bunger
- Ann Buffum
- Barbara Ginsberg
- Beth Savage
- Betsy Bowman
- Chris Turrentine
- Clare Sheridan
- Denise Easton
- Emma Sills
- Frissie Reed
- Geraldine Nager Griffin
- Jenny Dixon
- Julie Quinn
- Laura Moran
- Muriel Fontana
- Polly Dufresne
- Rory Contin
- 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.
