FALLS VILLAGE — The new principal at Housatonic Valley Regional High School is determined to avoid the kinds of problems that cast a shadow over the opening of school in August 2010.Matthew J. Harnett said he has read the report by Jeffrey C. Pingpank on the circumstances surrounding the August 2010 resignations of then-Principal Gretchen Foster and Vice Principal Mary Ann Buchanan.“A couple of times,” he said, with a smile.Harnett said his reading of the report led him to conclude that the underlying problem was one of communication. “People were frustrated and upset. Communications broke down. And people retreated.”To avoid that sort of thing, Harnett pointed to the door of the principal’s office, leading to the hallway.“That door will be open,” he said. (It was closed at the time, in fact, but his rhetorical point was clear.)“If anyone has a concern or an issue — if someone wants to close the door and vent — I hope they will take advantage.“If I have an answer I’ll give it. If I don’t, I’ll find it. “I see no reason to be any other way.”On Thursday afternoon, July 7, Harnett (in athletic garb) was winding down his fifth day on the new job. “I am educating myelf on what the climate and culture of the school is.”The HVRHS community is “supportive, proud, and attached to this school,” he observed.A letter to parents and staff went out this week, outlining “a number of ways for students, parents, faculty and staff to share their thoughts with me.”The school website has an online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/GD7HWFF; Harnett’s letter urges community members to complete it.The letter specifies a series of meeting times with faculty and staff members in July and August, to focus on three questions: • Are we headed in the right direction?• What is in the way of our doing so?• How can we be the school we aspire to be?And for parents, Harnett has scheduled coffee meetings on Aug. 23 and Sept. 13 at 8 a.m.He emphasized that he is around and available this summer.“I want people to come in so I can learn about the community and the school.”
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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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