NORTH EAST — North East attorney, businessman and developer Robert Trotta has once again submitted plans to the town for a go-cart track on Route 44 in the area near the Grand Union shopping plaza and the golf driving range. Last summer, on July 8, 2010, the board permanently tabled an apparently identical request from Trotta that generated a great deal of controversy in the community — as well as a petition against it, with 182 signatures.Trotta has proposed the track multiple times throughout the years, and has been denied each time.Many residents expressed concern that noise, air and light pollution from the track would impact the nearby residential and commercial neighborhoods, and could bring “a bad element” into the eastern part of town.At a Town Board meeting on Aug. 11, North East Supervisor Dave Sherman said Trotta submitted a written request that he be placed on the agenda for a Thursday, Sept. 8, meeting. When a request comes before the Town Board for a change in legislation, such as zoning (which would be required to permit a go-cart track), the board can choose not to consider it, Sherman said. However, as the Town Board membership changes every two years, there is the possibility of reevaluating those decisions at each two-year cycle. Thus what was once “permanently tabled,” could later reappear as town business.“So what one Town Board may choose to do or not to do another Town Board can do differently,” Sherman said. “So there’s no permanence in any decision made by a single board. It’s up to those people on how they’re to proceed.”At the Aug. 11 meeting, Councilman Carl Stahovec addressed Trotta’s request.“To be honest with you, we have to at least acknowledge any applicant, but I’m going to say we’ve heard this applicant three times already and it’s always the same reply,” Stahovec said. “I agree with Carl,” Councilman Dave McGhee said. “This is it.”“Should we put it in our code that go-carts are just not allowed and be done with it?” asked Stahovec.There was no response to his question. Sherman asked the board if it would be willing to hear Trotta out for 15 minutes at its next business meeting.“No,” McGhee replied. “Ten is good enough.”The topic was raised briefly once again at the board’s special meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 17, confirming its place on the Thursday, Sept. 8, agenda.“I’ve had reaction from board members in the past as far as expressing concern to the request from Mr. Trotta,” Sherman said. “It’s up to the board whether it wants to entertain the request. And the door is open if people want to petition it.”
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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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