One of the most difficult things any business or organization must do is downsize, or “right-size”, as Sharon Hospital’s president and CEO Kimberly Lumia put it, referring to the 26 people who were laid off last week at the hospital by her administration and management. There are no easy answers to fiscal problems, and when the decision has to be made to reduce expenses, it is human beings, not numbers, who suffer, as all those at the hospital understand right now.Many businesses have had to face this kind of reality since the recession hit four years ago. But with some economic indicators looking up, such as the unemployment rate and the value of the stock market, one could have been lulled into thinking such actions as mass layoffs are now behind us. The action that had to be taken at the hospital brought home the fact that our financial woes are not over.It is not only the employees who were laid off and their coworkers left behind who will be affected by the termination of 26 people, coming to a total of 40.3 full time equivalent hours, or FTEs. It is also those who use the hospital for their health care, the patients at the hospital, some of whom have been under the care of those who were laid off, who will feel their loss. Surely the morale at the hospital will be at risk now, both among the staff who remain and the patients who receive care there, especially on a regular basis. It will be a difficult time for all to get through. If the hospital is to survive, however, as Lumia noted when interviewed last week (see story, Page A1), the community needs to use and support the hospital and its facilities. As the only for-profit hospital in Connecticut, Sharon Hospital faces a unique challenge when it comes to expenses. More than a million dollars in taxes were paid by Sharon Hospital in 2011, a cost that their competition, the other hospitals in the state, does not face. However, Sharon Hospital is also now required to pay about an additional $700,000 because of a new “provider tax” on health-care providers in the state, part of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget changes looking for new revenues for the state.It’s understood that all kinds of painful steps have had to be taken in order to bring the state budget into balance, but at what cost? All hospitals are suffering due to the fluctuating volumes cited by Lumia and the problems with bad debt, both of which are influenced by the recession and its lingering repercussions. But to almost double the amount of tax to only one institution hardly seems fair. Couldn’t some amount of the taxes already paid by the for-profit Sharon Hospital count toward their responsibility for the provider tax? Do our legislators really want to drive one large employer to have to take the drastic step of slashing more jobs in the state or face unsustainable losses going forward?If the Malloy administration cares about retaining jobs in the state, rather than just attracting new ones, they should take careful note of these layoffs, and consult with this area’s legislators on a second look at the provider tax and the way it is levied on institutions in Connecticut.
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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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