SALISBURY — Don’t feel like hauling your Christmas decorations up to the attic? Then you may want to donate your old ornaments, inflatable lawn Santas and tangled lights to a local student filmmaker who will use them in her upcoming holiday action-comedy movie, which will be filmed in Salisbury next month.Of course, the writer/director will also accept monetary donations and give you prizes for your present, such as a “signed Kmart family portrait of the crew in ugly Christmas regalia,” or “a popsicle stick glitter ornament painstakingly crafted by the director.”These gifts give possible donors a glimpse into the comedy stylings of Scarlet Meyer, a Salisbury resident who attended Salisbury Central School and Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She is currently a senior at New York University, where she is working on a short student film entitled, “Lydia Wronsky Ruins Christmas.”What’s the movie about, you ask? Meyer answers that question with the help of Producer Gus Constantellis in a video on the pair’s Indiegogo page, where they’re attempting to raise $8,000 by Sunday, Jan. 27, to fund the production. They currently have earned $1,420 toward their goal. “‘Lydia Wronsky Ruins Christmas’ is my NYU Advanced Narrative. It’s a Christmas-style action comedy set in the beautiful town of Salisbury. It’s got action, adventure, car chases and lots of tinsel,” Meyer explains while wearing reindeer antlers and the patented ugly Christmas sweater.“But that sounds expensive,” says Constantellis, who is a junior in the NYU film program.“That’s because it is expensive,” Meyer responds.According to the Indiegogo page, here’s a breakdown of how the crew will use $8,000:• $2,000 for lights, camera and camera equipment• $1,240 for production design, hair, makeup and wardrobe• $1,650 for stunt coordination and stunt vehicles (yes, there will indeed be “several action sequences” — and they will be overseen by actual, professional stunt coordinators, not students.)• $2,000 for transportation and travel• $2,040 for food and lodging.While that total comes closer to $9,000, Meyer said she will be using money she raised working over the summer to fill the remainder of the budget.If all goes according to plan, the crew — which includes approximately 20 students — will film for one week in early February in the Hammertown neighborhood of Salisbury (where Meyer lives with parents Amy Jenkins and James Meyer) and parts of Millerton.Using northwest Connecticut as a backdrop, the approximately 15-minute film will follow Lydia Wronsky as she deals with a Christmas Eve breakup and goes on a ride with her psychotic ex-con aunt to get more eggnog for her grandmother’s Christmas party.Meyer says the movie is a mix of “Hot Fuzz” (a 2007 comedy by co-writer and star Simon Pegg), John Waters and early 1990s public access television.“This project is important to me, not only because I’m a senior and this is the last film I will make at NYU, but because I only recently discovered my love of comedy writing,” Meyer said on the Indiegogo page. “There are not many action-comedies with strong female leads, and we feel that it is important to show the world that not only can female characters lead an awesome action comedy, but that student filmmakers can pull off this kind of movie on a limited budget.”Once the film is complete, the duo plans to submit it to film festivals and see how far it goes.For more information or to donate to the film, go to www.indiegogo.com/lydiawronskyruinschristmas. Constantellis and Meyer will share financial information with all investors.
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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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