SHARON — With the multi-million dollar Sharon road repair project completed and the municipal elections past, it seemed like a good time to catch up with First Selectman Robert Loucks.Loucks was unopposed in this year’s election and now begins his second term in office.“We have 54 miles of paved roads in Sharon,” he said, summarzing the recently completed roadwork. “Of that, 36 or 37 miles have been completed. There are some roads that are in good shape and do not need fixing. But there are still 8 to 10 miles of roads in dire need of repair.”Loucks said he hopes that in the spring of 2012 the town will be able to find some money to repair the roads that still need attention. He shed some light on road maintenance. “For years they used a product called Cold Mix, sold by the Gorham company. That would go underneath, then the crews would ‘chip seal’ [with stone and oil] over that. The Cold Mix just did not stand up. Even patching it does not work because the Cold Mix underneath crumbles. It has not proved to be a good product.” The manufacturer claims to have improved the product, “but I’m not going to take a chance on that. I like the old-time proven hot mix that we are getting out of Amenia Sand and Gravel.”By now, he said, “It’s starting to get too late in the year to do any more repairs.” The weather can’t be too hot or too cold or the mixture won’t set. Most plants that make materials close down in winter.“The plant should be open until the first week of December,” Loucks said. “At this point, we’ll still be getting some blacktop from the plant. Town crews will use that for filling potholes on Cary Hill Road, Knibloe Hill Road and nearby places. There are potholes on these roads that need to be fixed, but we were hampered by the recent major storms.”In addition to its 54 miles of paved road, Sharon has 27.7 miles of dirt roads. Maintaining dirt roads is more costly to the town than maintaining paved ones, Loucks said.“People build their houses on these dirt roads and think the roads are fixed once and then remain in good condition. That is not the case. A number of dirt roads are anywhere from 4 to 6 feet below the banks on each side. That makes it difficult to drain out after storms.”During Tropical Storm Irene, Loucks said, “We lost some culverts, plus it washed out the area around the culverts. We had three storms, one right after the other doing the same damage, but Irene brought the most water. Because of Irene, we have six or seven places we are going to have to put in additional culvert pipes. There was no bridge damage from Irene. There was a little damage on River Road, on the Sharon side of the Housatonic River, near Cornwall Bridge.”Of the response from town residents to the work, he said,“I think 99 percent of the people are happy with the roads. I’ve been getting a lot of good comments, letters from residents and press about the road project. There are always some people who are unhappy with anything.” As for other projects going on around town, Loucks said he did not know when the refurbished Sharon Motor Lodge would reopen. But he did say, “I have admiration for people who come to town and fix things up. Just before I came to office, that place was a drug den. The State Police were watching it. I saw cars with New Jersey license plates going there. I called the police, they monitored the situation and came back to me telling me there was a lot of drug dealing going on.”Happily, things are looking up in town.
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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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