WINSTED — Gilbert hosted simultaneous affairs at home on Friday, April 15. The softball squad squared off against Northwestern, and the boys battled Wamogo.SoftballNorthwestern rode a perfect record into their game against the Jackets. After battling through the early innings, they generated a colossal offensive push late in the day to remain undefeated with a 15-3 win over Gilbert.Gilbert freshman pitcher Jaime LaChance managed to work through Northwestern’s top hitters and prevent an early Highlander lead, providing the opportunity for the Jackets to take a two-run lead in the bottom half of the first inning. The Highlanders quickly regained their composure at the plate, tallying a home run and a triple in the top of the second to take a 3-2 lead.Northwestern’s starting pitcher, Brittany Martel, supplemented her team’s offense with a scoreless Gilbert bottom inning in the second — a feat LaChance matched in the top of the third. As the crosstown pitching duel appeared to be heating up, Northwestern’s offense suddenly shifted from productive to merciless. The Highlanders added four runs in the fourth, then piled another six runs on top of their lead in the top of the fifth. The Jackets were unable to match Northwestern’s success at the plate and ultimately took a 15-3 loss at home.Northwestern turned in solid hitting with 13 hits. Kim and Liz Newkirk led the Highlanders with a home run and three RBIs apiece. Martel was very strong on the mound, striking out 10 to pick up the road win and help keep her team’s perfect record intact (4-0). Gilbert (3-2) struggled at the plate throughout the day, producing just two hits off singles from Zamis Fernandez and Jess Shotwell. BaseballAcross Walker Field, the boys hosted Wamogo in another close game that ended in an away team offensive explosion and a painful lack of hometown hitting.Wamogo was able to pick up a run in the first and added four more in the second after a vicious Gilbert outfielder collision provided the chance to cushion their lead with a few unearned runs.The Jackets responded in the bottom half the third, taking advantage of some shaky pitching from Wamogo starter Mike Odenwaelder. Two walks, a few bad pickoff attempts and a wild pitch allowed Gilbert to cut the lead by two and trailed 5-2 heading into the top of the fourth.Jackets’ starting pitcher Robert Weiss kept Wamogo scoreless through the fifth with the help of his fielders, allowing catcher Justin Morhardt to drive in a run off a single and chip away at Wamogo’s lead heading into the top of the sixth.Nate Marshall took over the labors at the hill and held Wamogo to just two hits through the final two innings while adding three strikeouts. Marshall unfortunately received little aid from his offense. Wamogo secured their advantage by adding three more runs through the final two innings and taking the 8-3 win at Walker Field.Odenwaelder led Wamogo from the mound and also at the plate, adding three of Wamogo’s 12 hits through the day, two RBIs and nine strikeouts. The Jackets tallied only three hits off singles from Devon Molway, Austin Brochu and Justin Morhardt, who added a RBI. Wamogo improved to 3-1 while the Jackets fell to 0-4.
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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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