Author Steve Berry, the font of more than a dozen best-selling mysteries and short story collections, will compete for attention with a literal font ”” a restored, 19th-century Tiffany inkwell ”” at the third annual Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum”™s “Pen & Inkwell Gala” Oct. 18.
Cocktails and a silent auction are at 7 p.m., followed by a catered dinner by Norwalk-based Outdoor Cookers Inc. at 8:30. Susy Gilgore, the mansion”™s executive director, said 140 people are expected to attend.
Berry will grade 10 finalists in the mansion”™s young writers competition and meet privately with the writers and their families at 6 p.m., before the event. The evening”™s mystery-writing theme was chosen to help launch the writing competition. In the contest”™s first year, the mansion received 80 writing submissions. The 10 stories Berry will grade have been selected by a mansion-designated committee.
Berry and his wife, Elizabeth, are founders of History Matters, a foundation “to assist communities around the world with historic preservation and restoration.” Gilgore said Berry agreed to appear for free and that all proceeds from the evening will go back into the mansion.
Attire is black tie or period-appropriate costume, which for the mansion, built 1864-1868 and lived in until 1938, means Victorian or Edwardian clothes. Two years ago featured an RMS Titanic-themed gala ”” Mathews relation Helen Churchill Candee survived the sinking ”” and last year highlighted the mansion”™s technologies, including its electric burglar alarm.
The gala Oct. 18 harks to the 19th century by taking place at Elm Park and bearing the subtitle “Mystery at Elm Park.” That was the name of the Norwalk park that today holds the mansion and the Stepping Stones Museum for Children next door.
The event also marks the debut of the mansion”™s newest show, featuring a weighty Tiffany & Co. inkwell that has not been displayed for at least 15 years, perhaps longer. The show is titled “Hidden Treasures: Artifacts from the LMMM Collections.”
Gala sponsors include Norwalk-based M.F. DiScala & Co. Inc; Norwalk- and Danbury-based Klaff”™s; Mr. and Mrs. David Findlay Jr.; Bridgeport-based People”™s United Bank; Southport-based David Scott Parker Architects; Norwalk-based Lillian August Furnishings + Design; Norwalk-based Connecticut Cottages & Gardens Publications; and Norwalk-based TFI/Envision Inc. Sponsors who have helped all year include the estate of Cynthia Clark Brown; Norwalk-based Xerox; Bridgeport-based The Maurice Goodman Foundation; Klaff”™s; and Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners Inc.
“We”™ve had tremendous support from the business and corporate communities, both for the gala and for our mission, which includes programs that educate and inspire youths and adults and that highlight this very important national historic landmark,” said Gilgore.
For ticket information, visit lockwoodmathewsmansion.com.
