BARKHAMSTED — For most high school baseball players, playing at a major league baseball park is just a dream.But Northwestern Regional High School student Zach Risedorf, 16, fulfilled that dream in late December when he participated in the seventh annual Power Showcase in South Florida.The event, which took place from Dec. 27 to Dec. 30, was held at Miami Marlins Park and is a showcase for amatuer baseball players.According to the event’s website at www.power-showcase.com, 130 players from 19 countries took part in the event.Zach, who plays u-18 AAU baseball at Team Connecticut Baseball out of East Hartford, was the only student from the state to be chosen for the event.On the first day of the event, Zach participated in a professional style batting and catching practices in front of numerous professional baseball scouts.On the second day of the event, Zach took part in the “Home Runs That Help” home run derby.At the derby, every home run ball hit by the batter is measured, signed by the player and then auctioned off to benefit a charity of the batter’s choosing.Zach hit seven home runs during the derby, hitting the ball at distances to be good enough to be considered major league quality, including a 463-foot home run that cleared the fountain on center field.By the end of the derby, Zach finished third in the underclass men’s group and fourth in the overall derby.Through the auction, Zach raised $1,500 for the Autism Awareness charity.Zach chose the charity because his sister, Stefanie, was diagnosed with autism when she was 6 years old.She graduated from high school in 2010 and will be graduating from the Highlander Academy transition program in June 2013.“Going down there and raising money for charity made me feel very good,” Zach said. “I would like to thank my family, including my parents Diane and Shane, for helping me get down there.”As for the future, Zach has two years left as a high school student, but he does have dreams of playing professional baseball once he graduates.“I definitely hope I can play professional baseball,” Zach said. “Right now, I’m just working toward college. But whatever happens, happens.”
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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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