SHARON — The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is already mapping out community events for 2013. The eagerly awaited Summer Book Signing is scheduled for Aug. 3. “As we do every year, the 2013 summer book signing event will feature private dinners at select area homes with some of the participating authors,” said library Director Louise Manteuffel. The author roster has not yet been finalized. Also on the schedule for this summer is the annual summer reading program for young readers. Children’s Librarian Emily Bartram said the official kick-off event will be held either on the weekend before or after the last day of school, sometime in mid-June.The recent Lego event for young people at the library was so successful, Bartram said it will become a regularly scheduled offering. She also said there will probably be a monthly story hour on Saturdays, for 3-to-5 year olds.This winter, the library will once again co-host a Valentine’s Tea with the Sharon Historical Society for children in kindergarten and up. This year’s event will be held on Sunday, Feb. 10. There will be Valentine card projects, history and of course a delicious tea. Later in the year, special holiday events will be held for Halloween and Christmas. For adults, the popular series of art exhibitions will continue, with shows remaining up for, on average, two months. Opening on Feb. 3 is a show of work by David Valyou, followed by an opening April 7 of work by Teri Moore. On June 2 a show of work by John Frederick Walker will open.The books we loveThe library will continue its adult program, which meets once a month on Sundays from 4 to 6 p.m. On Jan. 27, book dealer Darren Winston will host a program titled, “The Books We Love.”Attendees are asked to bring their most beloved book to the program. The library also has a book discussion group that meets on the first Tuesday evening of each month. Both fiction and nonfiction titles are on the list for 2013. The book for the Feb. 5 meeting is Wilkie Collins’ famous 1868 novel, “The Moonstone.” These are group discussions with no designated leader. Collins, a close friend of Charles Dickens, is considered one of the originators of modern detective fiction.In May, the discussion will be about “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” by Stephen Greenblatt.Multiple copies of each book are available at the library.The library offers patrons a museum pass program that provides free and discounted admission to many museums in Connecticut. There is also a discount theatre coupon program, offering discounted prices on selected Broadway and off-Broadway shows in New York City.As always, the summer book sale will be held on the same weekend as the book signing. In recent years, the sale has grown to include a silent auction.For more information, go to www.hotchkisslibrary.org or call 860-364-5041.
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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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