Murder mystery dinner to benefit Ionia Community Library

IONIA — An upcoming murder mystery dinner will benefit the Ionia Community Library. 

“Murder at Six! (Five O'clock Central)” — a murder mystery dinner — takes place at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Steele Street Hall, 115 S. Steele St., in Ionia. The fundraiser is hosted by the Friends of the Ionia Community Library. 

A single ticket costs $35, while the cost for a couple is $50. Tickets can be purchased at the Ionia Community Library until Monday, Oct. 18. There are only 100 tickets that will be sold. Amy Gregory is catering the dinner. 

The Friends of the Ionia Community Library is “interested in fundraising and promoting awareness of the library within their communities,” according to its website. 

Karen Merchant, secretary/treasurer of Friends of the ICL, said the group started hosting murder mystery dinners about seven years ago. She said the dinner is the biggest fundraiser annually for the Friends group. 

“Over time we’ve built up how many people come,” Merchant said. 

Guests who buy tickets will attend the Big Network Gala. The network’s most important producer is found dead, and the guests must use clues and information to solve the murder. 

Attendees should dress for the gala. Actors will provide information and clues to guests after the dinner, Merchant said. 

The Friends group was established many years ago, but restarted recently to raise support for the ICL millage. A proposal on the ballot in the Nov. 2 election asks to levy 0.98 mills annually on taxable property within the district for 25 years, until 2045, to renovate and operate a library and maintain the Hall-Fowler Home for three years.  

The ICL hopes to relocate to the former Mercantile Bank of Michigan building at 302 W. Main St. in downtown Ionia. The Hall-Fowler Home, where the ICL is housed at 126 E. Main St., would be transformed into a museum. 

More:Ionia Community Library millage proposal approved for November ballot

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“That’s where the majority of money has gone over the last two years,” Merchant said. 

The Friends group also purchases items for the library, including a new cricket machine to create decorations. 

“We have bought many things for them to make their life easier at the library,” Merchant said.

— Contact reporter Evan Sasiela at esasiela@sentinel-standard.com. Follow him on Twitter @SalsaEvan.