KENT — While there were some changes, frustrations and disappointments in Kent in 2012, overall it was a very good year for Kent residents and area people who shop, eat and have fun there.Author Frank Delaney, who was born in Ireland but now lives in Kent, has participated in the life of his adopted Connecticut town by appearing at several fundraising venues. In February, he read from and signed copies of his latest book, “The Last Storyteller,” at the Kent Memorial Library.In June, approximately 500 people filled the Kent Center School auditorium as Delaney interviewed actress and Salisbury resident Meryl Streep, as part of the library’s 2012 Great Performances series. Retired opera great Marilyn Horne was another highlight of the Great Performances series. Several hundred people gathered at the Kent Community House to hear her interviewed by publisher Stephen Rubin. Kent’s Cub Scout Pack No. 11 thrilled area race fans with its annual Pinewood Derby soapbox race in March at the First Congregational Church. The gravity-operated miniatures were silent except for the sound of their wheels, the loud cheers of the Scouts and their family and friends who filled the room.The last Friday in April is the official Arbor Day each year, and it’s a special day for Kent residents. At Kent Center School’s (KCS) Arbor Day celebration, art teacher Al Coffill explained why. “Kent has a special connection to Arbor Day,” he said. “Birdsey Grant Northrop, the person who brought Arbor Day to American schools, was born in Kent.” KCS students, faculty and staff gathered outside and planted a new river birch tree on the campus.The town benefited from the presence of several independent schools in several ways. Particularly of note: A donation from South Kent School of 20 new iPads to Kent Center School.Many people have trouble using the flat-touch screen keyboards in iPad devices. To make using the new iPads easier for students to use, KCS teachers Michelle Mott and Debbie Morin applied for a grant and received $1,200 that enabled the school to purchase Bluetooth wireless keyboards so students can now use the iPads with traditional computer keyboards.Kent was touched directly by the 2012 presidential election campaign. Vice President Joseph Biden visited Kent on Oct. 13 for a private political fundraiser at the home of Tony and Sally Zunino. A vice presidential motorcade of more than a dozen vehicles, including an ambulance, paraded south on Route 7, with flags flying. It was a different sort of vehicular spectacle for the road, which normally hosts streams of motorcycles.The past year saw many changes in the restaurant landscape. The Millstone Café and Bakery became favorites of locals and visitors alike on Main Street. They closed down suddenly at the end of summer. A new pub-style restaurant will soon open in the restaurant space.Belgique Chocolatier, which had been in Kent for 12 years, closed in October. The owners felt the time had come to move on. The two buildings that housed the shop and cafe are for sale.Doc’s Trattoria closed its doors on Dec. 16 after successfully operating in Kent for a number of years. Owners Roberto and Paulette Pizzo said running a restaurant was so demanding that it was making it hard for them to have a life and raise their children.
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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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