We have been doing Murder Mystery Weekends in conjunction with another B&B in our neighborhood since about 2005. To say that they make for a good time is an understatement! We provide fun, food, drink, history and even plenty of downtime for you during one of our exciting weekends. We only have them three or four times a year, so when you see a date posted, mark your calendars and call to book us as soon as you can, rooms often go quite quickly. Next one is July 26 & 27th, The Sure Pop Oil Well Scandal! Your MM package price ranges from $439-579, for two, depending on the room that you book, and includes all food, your room for both nights and usual amenities provided, and the MM activities. The only thing not included is any rental on a costume, should you choose to rent (rental is not a requirement but wearing a costume of some kind is!) and lunch on Saturday.
For a little preview into one of our stories:
We have four different stories, all written by innkeeper Jeff, so there is something for everyone. For those of you that are always asking how the weekend works, here’s a recap:
We assign you a character for the MM about 2 weeks out and mail you a package with all the information you’ll need, including a timeline of events. You will each get a booklet (that you will need to bring with you) that recaps all the characters and a little bit about them. Your particular character will have a bit more information that you’ll not want to share with others (shhh, your shady background is a secret…for now!). Our MM weekends are rather unusual in that they are entirely ad-lib. We do not give you lines to say and there are no actors doing a play for you – you are the actors! We will give you clues each round that we want your character to be sure to bring up in conversation but the rest is up to you – and believe us, it makes for some wild red herrings!
We would like everyone to check into the B&B by 5:00 on that Friday (earlier is fine, too, we are usually for sure ready for you by 3). If you are renting costumes from Celebrations and Traditions (our local Victorian costume shop), you’ll need to give yourself plenty of time to get by there to get fitted for your costume and be checked in by 5.
Each round lasts about 2 hours. The first round will be at 6:00 on Friday evening, in full costume, and is usually a celebration of the major “event” happening in the story – in July it will be the celebration of the local oil well that everyone expects to get rich from. So Friday is a full table of heavy appetizers (enough for a meal) and drinks and it’s a celebration…until something…uh…happens. Everyone then becomes a suspect and advised not to leave the county, yadda, yadda, yadda…
The second round will be after your huge breakfast at the B&B, at 11 a.m., for a little “breakfast dessert”. (You will not come away from this weekend hungry in any way.) The story is moved along by the bumbling detective and usually involves forensic reporting and other clues dropped by all the characters. You’ll want to bring a pen to take notes in your booklet! You are then left to spend Saturday afternoon in any way you wish, but be sure to spend some time hunting for clues that we’ll provide you. It will be fun to try to figure those out as you shop and eat lunch in our beautiful historic downtown. The shopkeepers love to be involved in this.
Round 3 is Saturday night, at 6, and involves…yep, more food. A buffet dinner is provided and we will have you share the last of the clues before the big reveal of “who done it”. We usually have a small awards presentation and yes, you’ll still have time to go out on the town afterward. We have many of our guests, who have made fast friends with other characters/guests, go out and party at some of our local hangouts. You can even call for the pink limo in town to take you back and forth. Be sure to go in your costumes, the townspeople love that.
Sunday morning, of course, you will receive another large breakfast at the B&B, with checkout not until 11 a.m.
So if you’ve always wanted to do one, here’s your chance! We also will be glad to schedule a MM weekend for a particular group, if you come up with a minimum of 12 people on your own, we’ll come up with a weekend date that works for all of us. We have had family members all come together and it’s great fun! We’ve had one particular family that has participated in our MM weekends at least 4 times – and at least one story they’ve done twice! The story is never the same and we are able to change the ending (and the murderer) any time we want.
Please feel free to call us with any questions at all about our Murder Mystery weekends and we look forward to seeing you at one of them soon!
Warmest regards,
Jeff and Nadara (Sam) Feldman
Jeff and Sam playing roles
