MYSTERY DINNER 2025

Stonington, Connecticut (June 15, 2025)

One hundred and twenty-nine guests gathered at the Stonington Free Library for cocktails on Saturday evening, June 7, before heading off to a series of intimate dinner parties in town with friends, old and new. The occasion was the 15th annual Mystery Dinner fundraiser, organized by the 2025 Mystery Dinner Committee, whose volunteer members work tirelessly to create this unique event every year. This year's theme was “Notre-Dame de Paris: A Celebration of Our Lady of Paris.”

Upon arrival at the 6pm cocktail party, guests were astonished to see the library transformed into Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, thanks to the vision, creativity, and hard work of the Art Committee, led by indefatigable Art Committee Chair Polly Dufresne. Committee members and other volunteers undertook the Herculean task of creating the set pieces and installing them for the pre-dinner cocktail party, featuring flowers, hand-cut gargoyles, and reproductions of the Cathedral’s famous stained-glass windows, including the famous Rose window. 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 19 locations across Stonington, where they had the opportunity to meet friends and neighbors while enjoying delicious, authentic French-based meals prepared by their hosts.

The Mystery Dinner began in 2009 and remains the Library’s signature and most popular annual fundraising event, consistently selling out.

Twenty-one volunteers made up this year's Mystery Dinner Committee, chaired by Beth Black. The library raised over $30,000 to support programs and services, including 12,000 for a much-needed speaker system to support our many live programs and a much-requested community water bottle filling station to replace single-use plastic water bottles. Thank you to our committee members, board members, volunteers, hosts, and guests for their support of this unique event!

Please click here to see photos of the 2025 Mystery Dinner cocktail party and dinner parties.

   

The Mystery Dinner continues to be the library's most popular event and has consistently sold out.

Thanks to the 2025 Mystery Dinner Committee:

  • Alejandra Welch
  • Allegra Griffiths
  • Andrea Bunger
  • Ann Buffum
  • Anne Fix
  • Barbara Ginsberg
  • Beth Black
  • Beth Savage
  • Chris Turrentine
  • Clare Sheridan
  • Frissie Reed
  • Geraldine Nager Griffin
  • Judy Westwood
  • Julie Quinn
  • Laura Moran
  • Polly Dufresne
  • Rory Contin
  • Sage Williams
  • Sally McBee

EVENT HISTORY

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.