MILLBROOK — In celebration of the arrival of 2013, the Millbrook Rotary Club held its ninth annual New Year’s Eve Millbrook on Dec. 31, 2012, with an estimated 1,400-plus people in attendance. Rotary board member Matt Anderson said businesses were busy and restaurants packed.The free family event featured entertainment and music throughout the village. Thanks to support from the Millbrook Tribute Garden, the Larry Ham Trio with special guest Chris Flory performed at the Lyall Church Sanctuary. The Handman Family Ensemble, a classical string group, performed at the Lyall Church Sanctuary.The Puppet People put on “The Elephant Child,” an adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling tale, at the Lyall Church Gathering Room courtesy of the Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation. Bindlestiff Cirkus, a vaudeville and variety circus tribute, was at Elm Drive Elementary School thanks to the Dyson Foundation.The Evergreen Chorus of Sweet Adelines a cappella chorus performed at the Grace Church Sanctuary with support of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley. The Long Steel Rail, a string band, performed at the Grace Church Sanctuary thanks to Stewart’s Shops. Peter Muir and Friends, a blues and jazz group, performed at the Grace Church Parish Hall sponsored by area businesses and the Millbrook Rotary. Throughout the evening there was balloon twisting by Button Down Balloons and Drama Queen Masks roamed the sidewalks as strolling art. The Hudson Valley Large Scale Railroad had a model display at Elm Drive Elementary.“Special thanks goes out to Mary Alex of the Blue Bounce House for outstanding management of another successful New Year’s Eve Millbrook,” said Anderson. “She put in countless hours of preparation and without her leadership we wouldn’t be able to continue the event.”Anderson thanked the Millbrook fire department for donating chairs that were used in the Village Hall, the village police for providing public safety, and the Mayor of Millbrook Laura Hurley and others for volunteering. Anderson expressed thanks to those who offered their hospitality from the Village Board of Trustees for use of the Village Hall, to the Millbrook Central School District for the use of Elm Drive Elementary School and for providing staff that evening. Lyall and Grace churches were also thanked for providing multiple venues. Alex said she appreciated the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9008 for cooking hot dogs and providing coffee and tea as well as the Millbrook Lions Club for serving chili.Anderson gave recognition to Millbrook Rotary Club members, the New Year’s Eve Millbrook Committee and their friends and families, along with students from Interact Club at Millbrook High School, Schuyler Meyer, Marissa Williams, Michael Sweeney and Ethan Wiltse — all for volunteering to set up, run and clean up after the event. “As always, if it were not for the support of all our underwriters, the local businesses and private donors ... we would be unable to continue this event on a yearly basis,” Anderson said.Below is a video of a young audience member participating in the Bindlestiff Cirkus performance at New Year's Eve Millbrook. Video by Associate Editor Darryl Gangloff.
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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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