CORNWALL — All they want for Christmas, or the new year, or anytime is a forever home.Dogs, cats, puppies and kittens are always waiting to be adopted from the Little Guild animal shelter.November brought a literal truckload of animals in need of homes. A shelter in Philippi, W.Va., damaged by Superstorm Sandy, was overwhelmed with rescues and was desperate to keep them from the many kill shelters in that region. When Little Guild Director Denise Cohn and her staff heard the story, they rented a truck and made a marathon trip, driving, loading and heading straight back in little more than a day.Back in Cornwall, they found an amazing response from a wide area, with volunteers, donations of cash and supplies and foster homes, as well as Dr. Stephanie James from Sand Road Animal Hospital offering to examine and give shots as needed to each animal. They turned out to be a happy, healthy lot.To date, 41 of the 65 West Virginia dogs and nine of 23 cats have settled in with families. The week after the West Virginia rescue, the Little Guild was part of a national cat adoption event, 9 Lives for $9. Nineteen full-grown felines (who don’t get adopted as quickly as kittens) went to new homes. It was a wonderful madhouse of activity as staff and volunteers worked long hours to care for the overflow of furry friends, placing them in foster care and consulting with potential adopters.Cuddly cats and an assortment of new puppies and dogs remain. There are four puppies ready to go and another three who will soon be old enough. There are two beagles, two hounds and several Labrador mixes, as well as bulldog mixes, a shepherd mix, two each of boxer and pit bull mixes and a purebred boxer.The stories to date are inspiring. Of the 17 dogs who went to local foster homes, five families could not give them up and ended up adopting them. Four remain fostered. Half of the eight fostered cats are keeping those families; two have become part of the Little Guild family; and two are up for adoption.Sheltered in West Virginia in a communal setting, the animals are very sociable and generally have fit in well in homes with other pets.That was the case with Blink, a Yorkshire terrier still fostered by Barbara and Denis Curtiss, in their Kent home. Described as “nine pounds of sugar,” Blink is a 9-year-old who loves to snuggle with his human hosts and the five other dogs who live there.Among them is Philip, whose story is unique. Denis Curtiss drove the rescue truck to West Virginia and back, and the first thing he saw when he pulled into the shelter in Philippi was a dog tied to a tree. He said hello and it was love at first sight for what turned out to be a Snorkie — a Yorkie/schnauzer designer mix. Philip got to ride to his forever home on the seat next to Curtiss.For more information, go to www.littleguild.org.
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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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