“Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve.” — FFA mottoThose words are well known by the nearly 550,000 members of the FFA nationwide who have committed themselves to what is arguably the best-known agricultural student group in history. Formerly known as “Future Farmers of America,” the FFA was founded in 1928 by a group of young farmers. According to its website, their goal was to “prepare future generations for the challenges of feeding a growing population .... [which] taught us that agriculture is more than planting and harvesting — it’s a science, it’s a business and it’s an art.”That mission is alive and well in the Pine Plains Central School District, which has done an exemplary job of preserving and promoting the FFA within not only its hallways, but throughout the community. While practically every school district in the Hudson Valley has done away with the FFA, Pine Plains has seen its chapter thrive and students flourish through the program.According to its website, the FFA aims to make “a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education ... and develops interpersonal skills in teamwork, communications, human relations and social interaction.”There is no doubt students who participate in the FFA benefit from doing so. So, too, does the community. That symbiotic relationship was celebrated on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5 and 6, during the Pine Plains FFA Fall Festival. The event is one the entire Harlem Valley looks forward to each and every year. There are always so many great ag-related activities to celebrate at the fair — the only chance for many to get a glimpse of the different facets of agriculture. The festival, and of course the much-beloved parade, bring neighbors, friends and families together for two days of learning and fun.The Pine Plains Central School District should be commended for its steady support of the FFA, and the Board of Education lauded for approving the stipend to back the program — let’s hope they continue to do so in the future. The students who participate in the FFA clearly love it. In fact, they revel in it, and thrive under the leadership of FFA Advisor Christine Mac Neil, who should be praised for her hard work, dedication and obvious talent at running the program.The FFA serves the students well, and also the surrounding community, which was once deeply entrenched in the farming lifestyle. Although the dairy farms that dotted the countryside are now far and few between, the FFA teaches our children about those traditions and how agriculture has grown and changed in the new millennium. Those lessons are worth protecting, and the fact students are interested in learning about them is indeed encouraging. Thankfully the school district also supports the program.All told there’s little doubt that in Pine Plains the FFA is alive and well, keeping plenty busy feeding fertile minds just as adroitly as it does fields and crops.
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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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