SALISBURY — About 35 residents came to Town Hall Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 9, to meet with U.S. Postal Service officials about plans to curtail service hours at the Taconic post office, located at 557 Twin Lakes Road, close to its intersection with Taconic Road.Joseph Mazzola, the Postal Service’s operations manager for the area with ZIP codes beginning with 060, made a return appearance to Salisbury. (He was the point man on the consolidation of the Lakeville and Salisbury facilities last year).He said he was pleased to report that the Postal Service and Congress had revised their earlier plans to close small post offices nationwide. Mazzola said that constituent pressure on their representatives was a major factor in the decision not to “discontinue” post offices.Mazzola said that the Postal Service and legislators received a clear message that citizens want the identity of their towns to remain intact — and that includes the post offices.Instead, Mazzola said, the Postal Service is trying to “right-size” the staffing of small post offices to reflect the workload.That translates into reduced hours for window service — when customers can buy stamps, send registered mail, send and pick up packages, buy money orders and obtain other services.There were two major issues: which four-hour span would best serve Taconic, and what to do about access to post office boxes.Mazzola initially said he thought 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays would be the right time frame.But the audience objected, and after considerable back and forth the consensus was that 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. would be better.“OK,” said Mazzola. “I’ll try to make it work.”The other problem is that the counter at the Taconic post office is open. Unlike Lakeville, where the lobby with the boxes can be left open while the windows and rear areas are locked and secured, Taconic has an open counter.Mazzola said he cannot cut back the hours of access to the boxes — especially important in Taconic, which does not have carrier service.One solution may be to have outdoor boxes, or “Neighborhood delivery collection units,” in USPS terms.A couple of aesthetic objections were raised to that idea. Mazzola said he would have to look at the interior layout of the building to see if a roll-down security curtain is feasible.Mazzola, an affable man, said he has a personal stake in the survival of the USPS. He and and his wife both work for the agency. “If it goes under, I go under too.”He added, “I don’t believe this is just a way to get closer to closing post offices. If it was, we’d have done it by now.”
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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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