I went up to the Eastern States Exposition, or the Big E, for the first time last month. The Big E is a conglomeration of the New England states’ state fairs, with all of the attractions and trappings of such events. I enjoy fair visits.I remember many trips as a child to the Michigan State Fair. State fairs typically display and promote agricultural produce and farm animals. The Michigan State Fairgrounds were located at 8 Mile and Woodward: the staples of rural farm life simply seemed out of place in the decaying (even back then) urban setting of Detroit. Sadly, the Michigan State Fair, started in 1849 and claimed to be the oldest state fair in the country, lost its state funding in 2009 and attracted only 200,000 visitors (attendance peaked at 1.2 million in 1966 — interestingly, the year before the 1967 race riots in Detroit). The fair was not held in the following two years, and was resurrected in a different suburban location this year. I am not aware how successful the new event was.While stationed in Germany in the early 1990s, all of the German towns, big and small, had their annual volksfests. Munich’s Oktoberfest is the world’s largest fair, drawing 6 million visitors over its 16 days of celebration. Those visitors drink nearly 10 million liters of beer. For a few years, I contributed to that total (and, with some Army buddies, spent a few nights sleeping on benches in the bahnhof train station). Those Germans could drink a whole heck of a lot of beer — no way could us lightweight Americans keep pace. I didn’t even try, so I can at least remember my Oktoberfest days!So much of a fair visit involves food. Most of it isn’t very healthy. The German festivals had plenty of brats, ham hocks, sausages, cheeses, potato pancakes, and pretzels (and did I mention the beer?). Many German towns also had winter festivals, and the food at those events also included waffles and gluhwien, a hot, spicy wine drink that warmed you all over.With true German volksfests now an ocean and continent away, I was introduced several years ago to an incredible replica volksfest in northern Ohio, the annual German American Friendship Festival (held the weekend before Labor Day weekend in suburban Toledo). The atmosphere, beer, wine, food, music and dancing was wonderfully reminiscent of my time in Germany. Now living here, Ohio might as well be Germany with regard to distance, so I haven’t returned to Toledo for a couple years. Great time and highly recommended, though, if you ever have the opportunity to visit.So, with all those fair memories and gastronomic anticipation, we headed north to Springfield. As a Big E rookie, I simply followed the directions recommended by the Big E’s web site: over to I-91 north to Massachusetts Route 5. The traffic was atrocious on Route 5 — we sat pretty much motionless for nearly two hours in traffic lined for miles. I sent an email from my Blackberry to the fair organizers complaining about the lack of traffic control. The response I received basically said don’t come on the weekend because it’s less crowded during the week. I’ll take a different path next year.Once we made it through the gates (parking at an off-site lot), the fair atmosphere was everything that I enjoy: the people, the smells of food and animals, the music, the various hawkers, the overall “buzz.” We ate lobster rolls, chili cheese fries, gyros and fried dough. We could have eaten worse — we steered clear of the fried cheesecake, fried Twinkies, funnel cakes, and fried whoopee pies. They probably would have tasted good, though!I was a little disappointed in the farm animals. Not being familiar with the fair schedule, I didn’t realize that many animals are only at the fair for a short time. We got to see plenty of cows and a few horses, but didn’t see many of the smaller animals: pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits. I’ll look more closely at the schedule for next year.The huge vendor halls were interesting, mainly because of the variety of goods and people. I found a tie vendor and bought new Halloween and Christmas ties. I had been looking all over for those specialty ties!Fairs are fun, but can be expensive for families (but isn’t everything these days?). I look forward to exploring other area fairs next year. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Dale Martin is the town manager of Winchester.
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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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