NORTH EAST — The Town Board held its annual organizational meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 2. The “reorg meeting” is designed so the board can get its municipal house in order for the upcoming year.First on the to-do list was for town Supervisor John Merwin to appoint his deputy supervisor. For the second year in a row he appointed Councilman Steve Merwin to the post.The board also voted to keep its meeting schedule the same for 2013. Town Board business meetings will be held on the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, located at 19 North Maple Ave., Millerton.The official newspaper was appointed. The Millerton News won that honor; the Poughkeepsie Journal was appointed as the alternate official paper in case a daily paper is needed to post municipal notices.Other appointments were made: Warren Replansky was reappointed as attorney to the town; Morris Associates was reappointed as the town engineer; Sickler, Torcia, Allen & Churchill was reappointed to provide the town accounting services.Lorna Sherman was reappointed as the town’s bookkeeper and budget officer; Donna Morrison as the assessor’s aide; John Lloyd as the real property data lister; Lisa Cope as the secretary to the Planning and Zoning boards and as secretary to the Building Department; Ken McLoughlin as building inspector and code enforcement officer for administrative and zoning matters; and Mike Segelken as deputy building inspector and zoning enforcement officer for building/fire inspections and field work.Town Clerk Nancy Davis-Vialpando appointed her deputy town clerks: Pat Boice was reappointed as deputy clerk No. 1, for taxes while Ellen Owens was reappointed deputy clerk No. 2, for office assistance. Davis-Vialpando was reappointed registrar of vital statistics and Owens as deputy registrar of vital statistics.Zoning Board of Appeals appointments were made. Julie Schroeder was reappointed as chair; Jon Arnason was appointed to a term ending Dec. 31, 2017.Planning Board appointments were also made. Dale Culver was appointed to another term, ending Dec. 31, 2019. He was also reappointed chair.Julian Strauss was appointed to a term on the Ethics Committee, ending Dec. 31, 2017. Petrina Lopane was appointed to a term on the Agricultural Board, ending Dec. 31, 2015.Ray Kilmner was appointed as highway motor equipment operator (MEO) foreman; Sean Morrison was appointed assistant highway MEO.Jim Rielly was reappointed the dog control officer. Michael Williams was appointed town historian.A resolution was passed to fix the salaries of all elected and appointed officers and to establish the wage rates for other personnel. A separate motion was passed to authorize the town clerk to open competitive bids on behalf of the Town Board.Mileage rates were established to compensate personnel who drive while on town business; the rate set is 56.5 cents per mile.The emergency interim successors were appointed by the supervisor, who stressed the appointments were determined by seniority and required by the county. In order, those to succeed the supervisor are: Councilmen Merwin, George Kaye, Ralph Fedele and Jim Campbell.Board members were also authorized to attend the annual Association of Towns meeting, and a delegation was designation for that meeting.Lastly, the board adopted the rules of procedure for Town Board meetings for 2013, which remained unchanged from 2012.
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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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