I am your host for this evening that is part social event, part theater production, and all aboard the Jonathan Padelford! Mississippi Park Connection and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in collaboration with Fearless Comedy Productions, brings an immersive murder mystery theatrical experience to life, Murder on the Mississippi. Cruise down the Mississippi River while enjoying a beverage, taking in gorgeous scenery, and helping to solve a World War 2 murder mystery on this unique riverboat experience. You are welcome to come dress up in early 1940s style!

It is 1944 and the United States is in the middle of World War II. Using local contributions to the war including the Cargill shipyards, the Language School at Fort Snelling, and contributions by Shipmen from St. Paul stationed on the USS Ward during Pearl Harbor, we are creating a world of propaganda and espionage. At the Cargill shipyards, a man has been murdered and a spy has stolen the plans to a new naval vessel. If those plans make it into the hands of the enemy, the impact on the war effort could be disastrous. Audience members will be enlisted as counter intelligence agents tasked with identifying their contact and helping that contact expose the enemy agent before they can escape the country. Was it the young soldier getting ready to ship out overseas? The welder working at the shipyards while her husband is away fighting for his country? The wealthy industrialist? The show will tie in historical information about the river and the war as well as look at the contributions made by Minnesota companies and Minnesota citizens to the war effort.