Murder Mystery Gala Coming To Great River Children’s Museum In St. Cloud

The Great River Children’s Museum is asking adults to solve a murder inside its downtown building this month at its third annual Game Night Gala.

Museum Director of Development Lacey Solheid says Gnarly Bard Theater owner Bubba Hollenhorst wrote the script and hired actors to fill the roles. She told KNSI News that attendees will get to channel their inner detective. “Our guests will get to interact with the suspects, get to figure out whodunit, and then all in the name of the power of play.”

The Clue-themed fundraiser is Saturday, September 26th. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., the game begins at 6:00 p.m., and the killer is revealed at 8:20 p.m. Tickets are $100, or $85 for museum members. Jules’ Bistro is catering with a menu built for the night.

Solheid took the development job in January and went to last year’s gala as a guest. “It’s just a really great event to bring everyone together. It’s the best parts of the Children’s Museum, but, you know, for adults.”

Guests who correctly name both the killer and the weapon get their name into a drawing. The top prize is a bites-and-brews package from Jules’ Bistro and Pantown Brewing, worth $1,000.

The museum is also running an experience pull, a twist on the wine pull. Guests buy a ticket, pick an evidence bag off an evidence wall, and win the activity inside instead of a bottle. Roughly 40 businesses and fellow children’s museums have donated, including local distillery tours, a Duluth family package with tickets to the Lake Superior Zoo and the Great Lakes Aquarium, and a visit to the children’s museum in Mankato.

Gala guests will also be the first to see the museum’s next temporary exhibit, which opens that night in the Hatchery space alongside a special performance. Solheid will not say what it is, calling it part of the night’s mystery. Members get a preview Monday, September 28th, and it opens to the public Tuesday, September 29th.

The gala is one of the museum’s largest fundraisers of the year. Money raised goes toward day-to-day operations, new exhibit supplies, and discounted admission through the Museums for All program and partnerships with other area nonprofits.

Tickets and sponsorship information are available by clicking here.

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