After returning to some semblance of routine following the October winter storm, it is time to reflect as to what went well and what fell short from my perspective as Town Manager.Perhaps the most glaring shortcoming is the complete unfamiliarity with the town’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). This heavy volume was adopted in 2005, and, judging from the dust, I don’t believe it left the shelf very often. So what does the Emergency Operations Plan call for?First, the EOP calls for the implementation of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC; get used to many acronyms with emergency management). The EOC is basically the command center during an emergency. The EOC should be activated and appropriately staffed prior to a pending event. Key personnel at the EOC include political, emergency management, public safety, public works, medical, financial, educational, and even legal personnel. Other personnel are assigned for communications, sheltering and mass care, utility liaisons, and animal care.So when and where was the EOC activated? It never was activated, so all of the functions and responsibilities of the EOC were lost. No common point of contact or information was established, leaving us to coordinate activities and information through informal means. The lack of an EOC activation in this instance is inexcusable. Sadly, even if an EOC were activated, I don’t believe many people would have been familiar enough with their responsibilities to make the EOC functional anyway. This issue will be immediately addressed.With a functional EOC, communications with area residents and the media would have been much more efficient. Information would have flowed out of the EOC to residents, and residents’ issues and concerns would have flowed to the appropriate personnel. Town communications must improve.Several individuals stepped up to meet the call to serve the community in its greatest time of need since 1955. Sadly, many individuals also stepped back. I was encouraged by some and disappointed with others. I offer deep thanks to those who provided assistance to their fellow residents, whether it was on the streets clearing debris, fighting fires, directing traffic, or working in the shelter. Many area businesses were exceptionally supportive. Without their efforts, many in the town would have had even greater difficulty.Perhaps one of the greatest needs that the town must confront is the development of an adequate shelter. At its most crowded time, the Senior Center was filled with nearly fifty residents and related material: personal baggage, cots, food, and other supplies. The center has one bathroom for each gender and no shower facilities. It took a major effort to breakdown the cots each morning in order to then prepare and serve breakfast. The most vivid demonstrated need for additional shelter space occurred on Wednesday evening: Chestnut Grove had to be evacuated for air quality issues. Suddenly, dozens of additional seniors (and some pets) fled into the Senior Center. If we had to house them, it would have been an unmanageable situation. This is another issue that must be immediately addressed.We have survived a few rounds of Russian roulette with the recent disasters — the earthquake, Tropical Storm Irene, and the winter storm — with no deaths or significant injuries (actually, not a single injury in any of the events has been reported to me). This good fortune cannot be expected to continue, nor should we rely on such fate. I consider it, as the leader of the town staff, to be a high privilege and responsibility to be entrusted with the health, safety, and well-being of the town and its residents during times of need. I hope that other town employees feel the same powerful sense of responsibility and duty. I will work diligently to ensure that the safety of our residents is protected.On different note, congratulations to the winners in the Nov. 8 elections. I look forward to working with the new Board of Selectmen. I wish to also thank former Selectmen Karen Beadle and Lisa Smith for giving me the opportunity to serve this community for the past six months, and hopefully much longer. Your service and dedication to the town should be appreciated by all. Dale Martin is the town manager of 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.”
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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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