FALLS VILLAGE — Interim Principal Jennifer Law opened the locked front door at the Lee. H. Kellogg School on Monday for this reporter —allowing him in before he had the chance to test the new walkie-talkie system provided for visitors to announce themselves.The walkie-talkie is a temporary arrangement. Law has also rearranged the principal’s office so she can easily see out into the parking lot. Which is how she spotted her visitor.Law, a resident of Amesville and a longtime teacher at Salisbury Central School, said she has special connections to Lee Kellogg and Falls Village in particular.Her husband, Alan Lovejoy, was a science teacher for many years at Lee Kellogg. Their two daughters also attended and graduated from the Falls Village school. Lovejoy is now a teacher at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.Although their residence is in Salisbury, Law and Lovejoy are active in the Falls Village Community, where Lovejoy volunteered with the fire company. Law has been involved with Friends Of the Lee Kellogg School (FOLKS), the D.M. Hunt Library and the Falls Village Children’s Theater.So when the position of interim principal came up, to replace Maria Bulson, who retired in December 2012, Law thought it was the right move for her to make, across the river to Falls Village.She said she doesn’t view Kellogg as “a starting place” in a new career as an administrator.“It felt like a calling, because I have such a strong connection to the school and the town.”She hasn’t applied for other principal’s jobs, she noted.Law taught at Salisbury Central School for 28 and a half years, both full- and part-time, and has worn a number of hats, beginning with sixth-grade English and science.She was the science curriculum coordinator for Region One; enrichment coordinator at Salisbury Central; and the Title I teacher at North Canaan Elementary School for a time.She is currently on a leave of absence, and said she misses the eighth-grade English students.“Some of them came to the regional dance here last week,” she said. “It was great to see them.”Law earned her BA degree at Hampshire College, her master’s in special education at Lesley College and her administrative certificate from Southern Connecticut State University.She plans to apply for the permanent principal’s position. “There are no guarantees, I recognize that.”She was asked how it feels being at the top.Law laughed and said that being a principal is not just about being responsible for curriculum and instruction.“The amount of other things is huge,” she said. “Lucky for me I’m super-organized.”She said she is learning — quickly — to prioritize. “Not everything needs my immediate attention.”Her short-term goals for the school, not surprisingly, are for boosting safety and security. (Later that evening, the Board of Finance awarded the school money for a camera and intercom system for the front door, an upgrade from the temporary walkie-talkie system, see story this page.)And Kellogg “is functioning highly now, so I just want to keep things running smoothly.”Law said she summed up her first couple of weeks at the helm to a colleague this way: “I never knew being in a tornado could be so much fun!”
Latest News
Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
Provided
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.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
