NORTH CANAAN — It was a cool sunny autumn day, and Dylan Baker was surrounded by trees turning the rich, tasty hues of the season — the golds, reds, oranges and even mellow yellows. But Baker was less interested in the leaves than he was in the tasty attractions of craft beers, which are smaller production brews, often made locally. As beer manager for Stateline Wine and Spirits (13 E. Main St.), he isn’t content to just stock the coolers with mass-production brands such as Busch, Heineken, Miller and more (although those sell well, too). Stateline, he said, has a 16-door cooler; of those, nine are dedicated to craft beers. Some come from as close by as Hartford (City Steam), Massachusetts and Vermont; others are imported from as far away as Europe and California. “Craft beer is the new wine, there are so many choices available now,” he said on Sunday, at the annual Brew Ski Beer Fest at Satre Hill in Salisbury. The event is a fundraiser for the Salisbury Winter Sports Association, which brings the popular annual ski jumps each February to the Northwest Corner. Baker is the organizer of the beer vendors for the festival, which features craft beers from local breweries and grilled bratwursts and burgers (sold as a fundraiser for the Sunday in the Country Food Drive).This year, he said, there were 25 breweries, about five more than in the past couple years that the event has been held.That increase is partly due to the rise of small-scale breweries in the area; and partly due to the popularity of the festival. Thirty dollars buys beer fans (about 200 were expected) a chance to sample 60 different offerings from producers such as Berkshire Brewing, Cisco, Harpoon, Lagunitas, McSorleys, Otter Creek and Olde Burnside.Stateline is a sponsor of the event; the store’s owner (Chris Battista, who also owns Ledgebrook Spirit Shop in Winsted) is “pro beer,” Baker said happily. Beer sales account for more than 50 percent of all sales at Stateline, Baker said. Interest in the craft beers definitely peaks after each year’s Brew Ski Beer Fest, he said, which is one reason why he and Battista are so glad to participate. It’s not just that sales increase; it’s also “so people can experience the different tastes and styles of beers.”“We’re trying to steer people away from corporate, large-production beer to smaller production,” Baker said. “With smaller production, you get more love in the beer.”
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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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