SALISBURY — Voters approved a $12.7 million budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year at the annual town budget meeting Wednesday, May 18.The vote, conducted by paper ballot, was 74-14.The Board of Finance met immediately afterward and set the mill rate at 10 mills, up from 9.5. The finance board vote was 4-1, with Don Mayland voting against it.There were a few qustions directed at Roger Rawlings, chairman of the Board of Education. Gary Nasiatka said he was “amazed” at any increases in spending at Salisbury Central School (SCS) “in a time of financial crisis.”Rawlings reiterated his explanation from the May 4 public hearing, that much of the increase is in categories the board has little control over, such as fuel oil, changes in health insurance plans and grants that have run out.There were no audience questions for First Selectman Curtis Rand about the municipal budget.The SCS budget is $4,802,422, an increase of $176,262 or 3.81 percent.Salisbury’s contribution to the six-town Region One School District for 2011-12 is $2,991,037, down $31,644 (1.05 percent). The Region One budget passed at a referendum vote May 3.Total education spending for Salisbury for 2011-12, will be $7,793,459 (up $144,618 or 1.89 percent).The proposed selectmen’s budget for town government is $4,948,508, an increase of $54,691 or 1.12 percent over 2010-11. The bottom line number that voters approved for the town of Salisbury for 2011-12 is $12,741,967, an increase of $199,309 or 1.59 percent.The new fiscal year begins July 1.Board of Finance Chairman Bill Willis said that the mill rate increase, combined with this year’s revaluation, means that although property taxes are going up, 65 percent of taxable properties will have a net decrease in their tax bill.Willis said that properties that experience a 6 percent or greater reduction in their new assessment will pay less in net property taxes.Still in play is state aid. Salisbury expects $144,000 in grants, primarily for roads and education. But Gov. Dannell Malloy’s negotiation with state employee unions isn’t quite a done deal, so towns must hold their breath for a while longer. North Canaan, for instance, began its town budget meeting May 17, and promptly adjourned until May 31 in the hope that the state aid picture would be clearer by then.Willis said in the event of a worst-case scenario, the town could make up the $144,000 between long-term surplus and the operating surplus from this year’s budget.
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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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