Winsted residents did the right thing at Monday night’s annual town budget meeting by sending this year’s proposed $32.3 million budget to referendum without cuts. A lack of arguing at the meeting seemed to suggest that a majority of people in town are on board with the budget, which contains a 2.14 mill increase with enough funding to get some road and infrastructure projects started in town.It may sometimes sound like beating a dead horse, but it’s clear now that years of zero increases have not helped Winsted become a successful town in the 21st century. In fact, all signs are pointing to a community in decay, with families moving out of town to find better school systems and businesses afraid to set up shop here for fear of a lack of community support. That community support includes maintaining a healthy school system, keeping up the town’s roads and bridges and making the town an attractive destination for consumers.Years of budget battles and complaining about taxes have also created the false perception that it is more expensive to live in Winsted than it is in other towns. Though the argument is wrong-headed, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as it serves to discourage new residents from buying homes here, reducing the size of the pool of taxpayers and increasing individual bills. If you look at the total amount of money needed to fund the town’s operations, it pales in comparison to towns like Avon and Simsbury, where populations continue to rise, businesses get plenty of support and school systems are adequately funded.People who want Winsted to continue to decline and falter should go ahead and keep fighting the proposed increase in funding for the municipality. But those who want to be honest with themselves about the town should realize that investment is sorely needed. That is the consensus of the town manager, Board of Selectmen and Board of Education, all of whom work to serve the residents of this town.The only other reason to oppose the budget would be for political reasons — to deny the current Board of Selectmen a victory in its first term. If that’s how people want to play ball, that’s their prerogative, but it’s not going to help the town grow, and it certainly won’t contribute to a positive atmosphere. Those who are in support of the budget should continue to fight for this year’s increase and be prepared to vote for it at the scheduled referendum on Saturday, June 2. Passage on the first try will be a small step in the right direction for a town that desperately needs a boost.
Latest News
Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
Provided
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.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
