PINE PLAINS — The 4-H Club of Pine Plains held its fouth annual chicken barbecue fundraiser at the Lions Club Pavilion on Saturday, April 30. The successful event welcomed local families, 4-H supporters and barbecue-lovers alike for an evening of tempting, fresh-cooked food, door prizes, a 50-50 raffle and a silent auction. All together, more than 200 meals were served and 100 items auctioned off and more than $2,000 was raised for the 4-H Club.Patty Hall, the 4-H Club leader, oversaw the organization of the event. She was assisted by the 4-H members and their parents, as well as other supportive citizens from the surrounding towns. She said the club is thrilled with the event’s success, especially since it frees members from needing to continue fundraising throughout the year, giving them more time to participate in 4-H and agriculture functions, like the Dutchess County Fair.The chicken, which was cooked over an open charcoal grill using a special family recipe, was given glowing reviews by all in attendance. Amenia resident Lori Hale declared that it was the “best chicken in the area.” Also included in the meal were a baked potato, coleslaw, a fresh roll, brownies, ice cream and drinks. Many of the food items came from local businesses, like Adams Fairacre Farms and Boice Dairy. The Pine Plains Lions Club, Ronnybrook, Peck’s Market, William’s Lumber and Superior Sanitation also sponsored the event.The barbecue ended with a spirited silent auction, which ignited friendly bidding wars among the attendees. The auction’s big winner was Pine Plains resident Trudy Bulow, who went home with no fewer than 10 items, including numerous flowers and potted plants, gift certificates and a hand-knit sweater. “I just want to see farming furthered,” she said in an affirmation of her support for the 4-H club. “This has always been a farming community, so it’s great for the kids to get involved. Plus, it’s fun outbidding your friends.” Other auction bidders won baked goods, camper pump-outs, wine from the Millbrook winery, local maple syrup and decorations for the home.The money raised from the barbecue will go toward an overnight, agriculture-themed, educational trip for the 4-H members. Although this year’s destination is still undecided, previous trips have taken the group to an elk and moose farm, a maple sugar farm and the Cabot cheese factory in Vermont.While 4-H clubs around the country are disappearing with an alarming speed, the Pine Plains branch has seen a steady increase in interest since its inception seven years ago. Its leader, Hall, attributes this to the FFA’s presence in the Pine Plains school district and local farms’ willingness to sponsor members without animals of their own. The club currently has 26 participants between the ages of 6 and 17 who use the club to develop their leadership skills and responsibility while learning about agriculture in a hands-on, community-orientated environment. Many also use the knowledge they gain from the club to raise animals as a way of paying for college and planning for their future.
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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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