WINSTED — The Winchester Board of Selectmen cut short a special meeting on Friday, Jan. 11, at Town Hall, at the direction of Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan.The meeting, which lasted for three minutes, was supposed to be a discussion regarding the possible hire of a financial liaison to the selectmen for financial analysis and communication.“The reason why we are calling the special meeting is to identify and resolve financial issues in a non-partisan manner,” Mayor Mary Ann Welcome said. “We would like to solve these problems and that is what we will attempt to do.”However, right after Mayor Mary Ann Welcome started the meeting, she gave the floor to Nelligan.Nelligan said that, while he was not invited to attend the meeting, he said he needed to pass along to the board information from Town Auditor Vanessa Rossitto.Rossitto is a partner in the auditing firm BlumShapiro of West Hartford and has been working on the town audit for fiscal 2010-2011, which is now more than a year overdue to the state.“I have spoken to her, and she has finished the preliminary and most important part of the audit,” Nelligan told the board. “She is going to meet with me on Monday, Jan. 14 and will deliver documentation to me that will be relevant to the selectmen.”Nelligan did not say what information the documentation contains at the meeting.“Obviously the town is in a tight situation and emotions are running high,” Nelligan said. “Also, the worry level is high and rightfully so. It occurred to me that it would be good, in light of my communication with Vanessa, for the board to stand down for a couple of days. I am asking the board to stand down in order to give us some time to get some information, to try to calm things down and more importantly develop a plan going forward that will address the problems and protect the town.”Selectman Candy Perez said that in light of what Nelligan said that the board should honor his request.Perez subsequently made a motion to cut the meeting short which was seconded by Selectman George Closson and approved unanimously.Selectman Glenn Albanesius was not present at the meeting.As part of the motion, Selectman Ken Fracasso cancelled a special meeting that both he and Albanesius requested for Saturday, Jan. 12.Scheduled on the agenda for that meeting was an executive session regarding Town Manager Dale Martin and a discussion or possible action as a result from the session.In an interview after the meeting, Mayor Welcome said that she did not know why the special meeting was called.“I didn’t even get to see the agenda for the meeting,” Mayor Welcome said. “Talk to Ken and Glenn, they are the ones who called the meeting.”Both Fracasso and Albanesius would not return numerous calls for comment for this story.At a previous special meeting in October, which was called by both selectmen Fracasso and Albanesius, both selectmen demanded that Martin resign due to the alleged misuse of a town owned e-mail account.There were no motions made at that meeting by any of the selectmen.A new special selectmen’s meeting was called for Wednesday, Jan. 16, and took place after this week’s issue of The Winsted Journal went to press. Look for an update at www.tricornernews.com.A employee review of Town Manager Martin, which was scheduled at the last regular selectmen’s meeting on Jan. 7, is listed on the agenda.While the review is listed as being in an executive session, Martin can request that the selectmen hold the review in public session.Also listed on the agenda is an executive session regarding strategy with respect to pending claims or litigation regarding Finance Director Henry Centrella.Centrella was put on paid administrative leave by Town Manager Martin in early November.According to a letter sent in November by Town Manager Martin to David LeVasseur, Acting Undersecretary for the state’s Office of Policy and Management (OPM), Centrella was placed on leave due to accounting irregularities concerning the long overdue 2010-2011 town audit.In his letter, he further cites Centrella as being a primary reason why the 2010-2011 audit is overdue.
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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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