A few thoughts:• Where are the small tokens and instances of community pride in Winchester/Winsted? I have yet to see a Winchester shirt or coffee mug, standard community items in most towns. I am part of this town, I’m proud of it, and we need to promote it, both in little ways and big.• What’s with the incredibly low voter turnout for the town budget referendum? I mean, given the strong feelings and contentiousness of the proposed budget, how is it only a little more than 10 percent of the voters felt the need to contribute to the direction of the town? The referendum was posted on signs downtown and announced prominently in area newspapers. Absentee ballots were aof-town for the holiday weekend. Hey, if you are willing to let such a small percentage guide our future, stay home — but don’t complain after the fact.• Why are people so negative? Is the attitude driven by the ability to hide anonymously behind Internet message boards? I challenge anyone posting on such boards to attach your name to your comments and information. Issues need to be discussed, and viewpoints need to be presented, but let’s be civil in our discourse. Sometimes I think we fall into the partisan rhetoric bred at the federal level. Town government is about our neighbors and community. It should be about building relationships and bridges, not winning and losing.I have a set of miniature autos on my desk at Town Hall representing the characters from the Pixar movie “Cars.” I recommend that all of you watch that movie (preferably before “Cars 2” is released and most likely destroys the brand). Beyond the neat animation and cute characters, recognize the theme of the story: Our small towns truly suffered with the new-found mobility of the automobile. To paraphrase, we used to drive to have a good time; now we drive to make good time. Radiator Springs revitalized itself, so let’s see what we can do for Winsted.Here’s a way to start: Shop locally whenever you can. Ask yourself, “Can I buy it in town?” First, with the price of gasoline, you may save money by not traveling to other towns. Second, consider the long-term impact of your decision to purchase elsewhere. If (and that is a significant “if”) the local stores carry items for just a few dollars more, consider that added cost as the “community tax.” That tax is strictly voluntary — if you’d rather buy the hammer in Torrington rather than the Winsted hardware store, go right ahead. In a few years, when your local stores begin to shutter themselves and neighborhood shopkeepers disappear, you will then wonder, “Where did the old Winsted go?”Here’s an interesting observation about the economy. When I left Michigan, the voters in that state had just thrown the Democrats out of office after several years of failure. Apparently, before I got here, Connecticut voters threw out the Republicans for the same reason. You know, maybe the economy is bigger than political parties. Maybe we need to focus on electing leaders with ideas and vision, rather than those with party connections. Interesting concept, but probably not likely to happen if we only have low voter turnouts, right?I have been invited to the monthly community dinner at the United Methodist Church on June 23. I’ve been asked to share with the audience some insights as to what a town manager does and to offer my perspective on my first several weeks in my adopted state and town. If you would like me to share similar thoughts with your group or perhaps discuss a more specific issue, please contact me. I enjoy speaking to interested groups.I will get to experience my first Laurel Festival this weekend. I look forward to the town showing itself off again with all of the wonderful people and supportive organizations and businesses. How about some positive comments and gratitude for the volunteers that make this annual event such a success? Thank you, Laurel City commissioners.Have a great weekend. As usual, comments are always welcome. Dale Martin is the town manager in 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.”
Provided
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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