NORTH CANAAN — Another step in an effort to encourage safe and legal parking at North Canaan Elementary School is about to occur.A relatively new parking lot directly across Pease Street from the school is getting a major improvement. The empty lot was purchased by the town about five years ago. The idea was to provide more parking for the school, particularly for nighttime activities. Previously, the only legal parking was in the adjacent Town Hall parking lot. But it was typically used as overflow parking after the main entrance circle and fire lanes on the street were filled.While the new lot is still not the first choice for many, it has eased the situation. But it has presented its own hazard. At night, it is difficult to see to walk in and out of the lot. The contrast of bright, exterior lights at the school and lighting at an apartment house behind the lot make it seem that much darker.Old road millings and volunteer labor made for a very affordable paving job, but one that has quickly become rough over a few winters. The lot has become pitted with holes at the entrance, which are difficult to avoid in the dark.The Board of Selectmen has long discussed the matter,looking for an approach that would not become a nuisance to neighbors. The proposal to buy the property came at a time when wooded lots all along that side of Pease Street were receiving subdivision approvals. It met with considerable opposition during the public hearing process. Bragg Street residents, who had long enjoyed backyard privacy and shielding from lights and noise at the school, were the most vocal. It has come down to only one option: expanding on the existing sodium vapor overhead street lighting, as recommended by a Department of Transportation review.Selectman Charlie Perotti said the additional lights will be mounted on the two streetlight poles that currently light Pease Street in front of the school. A pole with two more lights will be installed in the island in the center of the lot to light the back portion. Since they will be on the same timer as the CL&P streetlights, the parking lot will have to stay on all night. But there remains a buffer of trees between the lot and most Bragg Street homes. The town will pay about $4,000 for installation. It will pay a total of about $36 per month to keep the four lights on.
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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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