MILLBROOK — Tuesday, May 17, torrential rain flooded all of Dutchess County, and from noon until 9 p.m. members of the community trekked to the Millbrook Middle School Auditorium to vote for the proposed 2011-12 school budget.This year’s proposed budget came out to $25,686,794, a 2.75 percent spending increase over the current year, according to the Millbrook Central School District Messenger newsletter. The Millbrook community voted on whether to authorize the Board of Education (BOE) to expend the proposed budget, which was approved. The ballot also included potential BOE candidates James Ross, Thomas Hurley and Thomas Lehmkuhl. Two spots were open for election for three-year terms (July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2014) and one vacancy for the Board of Education to complete a term from May 18, 2011, to June 30, 2012. Lloyd Jaeger, superintendent, discussed this year’s voting turnout. “I don’t have that number in front of me, but I want to say 654 total people voted, a low turnout. I don’t really have an idea why,” he said. “Weather conditions could have contributed to that. It was a severely rainy day, that could have been a contributing factor.” The Millbrook Central School District states its goal is ensuring the students of Millbrook are receiving the best education possible with the necessary preparation to continue to higher education. However, assuring that a student’s needs are met does affect the Millbrook community’s pocket. Taxpayers are essential to funding the school district; Millbrook particularly relies heavily on property tax compared to other Dutchess County school districts. According to the Messenger, Millbrook ranks fourth among the 13 Dutchess County school districts for the cost of putting a student through the district. Property tax reportedly makes up 76.71 percent of district revenue, ranking it second out of Dutchess County districts. State aid is sparse, however, for the Millbrook district. Millbrook ranks 12 out of 13 for state aid revenue per student and 12th in state aid as district revenue compared to the 13 districts. “It was a challenging time to develop the budget because for the second year in a row we respectively received limited state aid assistance or reductions in state aid,” said Jaeger. “Consequently, trying to develop a budget with increasing costs was a challenge. Therefore, our budget-to-budget growth was 2.75 percent, which was not a big budget growth, but it was still an increase.” Regardless of the revenue generated from property taxes, the district contends that Millbrook‘s true value property tax rate has consistently been the lowest for 12 years running. The Millbrook Central School District anticipated the 2011-12 tax levy will increase by 3.96 percent. “We made an effort to maintain low budget-to-budget and low tax levy increases in our budget; the tax levy increase for this was 3.96 percent,” Jaeger said. “So that seems to be something that our community was willing to support.”Regardless of the struggle to keep tax dollars down, the Millbrook School District is highly conscious of keeping a consistent budget and spending conservatively. The major budget components are broken down into three parts: the program component, which increased by 1.94 percent; the administration component, which increased 1.88 percent; and the capital component, which increased 7.53 percent. “We are going to be challenged to keep budgets low because there are costs that are associated with our business and state revenues seem to be limited, so we tried to be consistent in slowing the growth of spending,” said Jaeger. “We appreciate the community’s support for our programs, and we look forward to invest for our students. We are fortunate to be able to hold onto all of our programs and staff; the community’s support for that is very much appreciated.”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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