KENT — The Housatonic River isn’t completely frozen but large sections of it, in Kent at least, are thickly iced. Which means of course that conditions are much better this year than they were last year for the annual Ice Watch fundraiser for the Kent Volunteer Fire Department.Susie Rundall shared an update with The Lakeville Journal on plans for this year’s competition (tickets will be sold this year until Feb. 15).Rundall’s son, Bill Rundall, has been Ice Watch chairman for the past 10 years (the Ice Watch has been held here for more than four decades, she said).Each year, Rundall explained, the Ice Watch committee erects a tripod on the ice on the Houstaonic River. A cable is strung across the width of the river. A rope is attached to the tripod and, through a series of pulleys on the cable, travels to a small shed on the side of the river.An old, car-type clock is kept running inside the shed. When enough Housatonic River ice melts to permit the tripod to move approximately 100 feet south on the river, the rope pulls a lever that stops the clock.For $2, anyone can make a guess as to when the clock will stop. The winner is the guess closest to the actual date and time on the clock when it stops.The money collected from the sale of tickets is divided between the winner and the fire department. “Some years,” Susie Rundall said, “we are fortunate enough to have the winner donate his or her winnings right back to the fire department.”There are white boxes around town that are approximately 10 by 10 inches where Ice Watch guess tickets can be purchased. There are envelopes on top of the boxes that contain the guess slips. Fill out a guess slip and put it in the envelope along with $2 for each guess. The envelopes are left in the white boxes.“It is important that people fill in all the required information on their guess slips,” Rundall stressed. “Guesses without all information properly filled in will not be accepted.” The information required on the guess includes: the exact month, date and time the clock will stop including hour and minute; whether the guess is for “a.m.” or “p.m.;” and the guesser’s name, address and telephone number.The times selected must be between Feb. 16, 2013, and 11:59 p.m. on April 30, 2013.In the event there is not enough ice to set up the tripod, the proceeds are treated like a regular “50/50” with a winning ticket drawn.The deadline for purchasing guess tickets is midnight on Friday, Feb. 15. For further information, call 860-927-4119.
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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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