Big Read- Mingle Mystery

Mead Public Library will conclude its NEA Big Read program with a new western-themed mingle mystery event for participants to solve. Inspired by the period of the selected book, "True Grit," local playwright Leoda Wolf has written "The Intrigue at Fort Smith." The free event is open to all and will be held on Friday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. on the first floor of Mead Library.

Ten characters will set the scene as excitement fills the air. The Little Rock-Fort Smith Railway is about to complete the first leg of the first trip from Little Rock to Fort Smith after 26 years of railway construction. The cast of characters includes a newspaper editor, a peddler of sparkly stones, the Fort Smith sheriff, a trapper, a drifter, a general store proprietor, the owner of a boarding house, a teacher, a minister's wife, and an abandoned child who wanders into town.

The cast of local people who will play suspects in the mystery include Catherine Woelm as Lorena, Stacy Gloede as Willow, Ann Penke as Millie, Barbara Pence as Serenity Grace, Hilari Renzelmann as Miss Britannica, Clark Ross as Sargent McGee, Tom Tyson as July Johnson, Larry Penke as Banjo Bill, Dan Burkey as Maddox, and Jay Hilbelink as Sheriff Leon.

Participants are invited to attend in late 19th century garb or "come as you are" to mingle with the suspects, ask them questions, confer with others and use sleuthing skills to figure out the mystery.

Poetry contest winners announced!

The NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.