We join Zoom meetings, we share google documents, we buy add ons to our tvs to have virtual happy hours with friends. All of these developments to make our lives more bearable during the COVID-19 pandemic. I think we can agree, we are Zoomed out. Previously, I wrote about the cancelling of Ski to Sea and many other spring to summer events that might make the beginning of summer feel lackluster, and not to take away from visiting from the amazing Rock Garden, but the coolest pivot I’ve seen from anyone to answer the COVID-19 pandemic has been the Fairhaven Association’s Dirty Dan Murder Mystery.
You may have heard about the Dirty Dan Murder Mystery production on Arts & Entertainment Spotlight with Margaret Bikman, if not, take a listen:
Well, here is my recap from the event, it was awesome. I have never done a murder mystery, so I don’t have an experience for comparison. As the Bikman interview states, clues were hidden throughout Fairhaven at local businesses and actors playing suspects were available for questioning.
The Dirty Dan Mystery started with picking up a wristband, a newspaper covering the murder and had little clues to find the murderer. The wristband was meant to make it easy to grab the clues, which the process was very easy. The store owners were friendly and many were curious about how the investigations were going. Some even got in on the fun.
Fairhaven was abuzz with “Gumshoes”, which is slang for investigator. People were popping into stores, shopping, drinking beer, grabbing clues, interviewing suspects and sleuthing their little hearts out. The Dirty Dan Mystery lasted from 10:00 am on April 24th until 1:00 pm on April 25th. Participants were instructed to turn in their answers by the 1:00 cut off time where the final coroner’s report was read and the apprehension of the murderer was made. Ultimately the murderer was Flora Potts!
Her statement, post arrest was:
“Yes, I killed him, I had to, and I promised my generational family that anyone who was a relative of William “Billy” Leach would have to die. He was a good friend of Dan Harris. Together they took a boat over to Asia in the late 1800’s and brought back immigrants to work in the gold mines and the fish canneries. My great- grandfather like so many did not want to leave his country but he was forced to leave, he died in one of the refugee camps at a young age. Now the ruthless great grand-child of William Billy Leach is gone, goodbye Bill Leach, I made sure you died right next to grandfather’s friend Dan Harris.”
My final notes are that the creators did an incredible job of promoting local business. There were some pretty sweet awards for those who got the correct answer and even for those who did not. I did not get the correct suspect, but I know I will have another try next year.