WEST CORNWALL — Where have all the cats gone?To good homes. A sale on cats at the Little Guild animal shelter worked out better than anyone had hoped. At this time of year, shelters see an influx of strays rescued from the cold. Already at capacity, the Little Guild staff aimed to make room by participating for the first time in “$5 Felines,” a nationwide promotion by the Best Friends Animal Society. From Nov. 26 through Dec. 3, the usual $150 adoption donation was drastically reduced. Families and individuals still had to go through the same rigorous application process, though, aimed at assuring a good match for humans and felines.“I came in that first Saturday and there were about 20 people waiting in the lobby,” Little Guild Executive Director Denise Cohn said. The week that followed was a swirl of activity, as visitors continued to come in to meet the 25 cats waiting for homes. Staff and volunteers worked long hours to welcome visitors and wade through stacks of applications. The end result was, as Cohn described it, “spectacular!”As of early this week, 19 cats were adopted and many applications were under review. Many cats had numerous families wanting to adopt them, and there was a lot of back and forth as people considered other choices. The sale ended with a waiting list of qualified families interested in adopting. It looks like the shelter will place all 25 cats it had on the premises; and more cats may be brought in from another shelter.For Little Guild workers, it was not just about the numbers. While they love their felines and offer them a comfortable home at the shelter, they know the cats would be much happier with a family. But there are always those that are difficult to adopt out. Zora, for instance, was there for more than five years, after coming in feral and very shy. A woman who has lots of experience with such cats took her home. Wasabi, at the Little Guild for more than three years, found shelter life stressful and would lick off patches of fur. The condition was expected to go away once she was in a loving home. But it was a turn-off for would-be adopters.“Unfortunately, many people missed her sweet personality while looking at the cats, but not this week,” Cohn said. “She went to a perfect home.”Then there was Holly, a very shy, young cat waiting a year for a home. She was not going to find one easily by hiding every time visitors came into the cat room. But with demand high, one couple coaxed her out and fell in love.“Overall it was a huge success, far beyond what we were expecting and we couldn’t be happier,” Cohn said. “We are now able to take in at least as many as we adopted out and get them in from the cold, fed and treated for any medical conditions they may have.”So what brought so many people out?Lots of publicity (newspapers, radio and Facebook), Cohn said, and a moving YouTube video Guild members made with photos of people, mostly children, cuddling with the shelter cats. $5 Felines put the shelter on the radar for many. Zora went home with an Oxford, Conn., family. Many others traveled considerable distances not only to take advantage of the sale, but to see the shelter.“Many people were adopting because of the price, but almost all gave more than the $5 requested. Some paid the full $150. Everyone understood the amount of money we put in to each cat to meet their medical needs and insure each is altered and up to date on all vaccines.“Some were waiting for a ‘better time’ to bring home a cat but once they saw the publicity, and met the wonderful cats, decided this was the ‘best time.’ We made a video that was adorable and we had some people who watched it email us and say, “OK, I really want that cat — the one with the little boy in the video.” Definitely the awareness of the need to get these cats in to homes and bring others in from the cold, and the knowledge of who The Little Guild is and what we do, played a large role in the success.”Word is spreading. Calls are already coming in from friends of families who adopted a cat, wanting to know about remaining cats, as well as available dogs. Cohn said that one dad left his children with the cats while he went to check out the kennels. The family went home with a cat and a dog.For more information about the Little Guild, and a link to the video (click on the “cats” tab) go to www.littleguild.org.
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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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