SALISBURY —Signs are appearing on roadsides in town advertising the new Alpine Ski Jumping Winter Carnival Jan. 25 to 27. This could easily be confused with the annual Salisbury Winter Sports Association (SWSA) ski jumps, which will be held next month as part of the three-day Jumpfest (Feb. 8 to 10).The more traditional Jumpfest features good old-fashioned ski jumping, the kind you see at the Winter Olympics.This weekend’s Alpine jumping events, which are also sponsored by SWSA, are a little more edgy, the extreme version of ski jumping. The contestants will come mainly from out West and they will attempt to negotiate the K70 hill at Satre Hill (behind LaBonne’s and the Scoville Library) using traditional downhill skis and poles.Ski jumping has changed a bit over the years, but actual ski jumpers do still use special equipment. And instead of poles, they rely on grooves cut into the ice and snow of the inrun (also known as the tower or the ramp) to guide them toward the takeoff — the point where they launch themselves into the air. For those who are still confused, but intrigued, a little bit of history might be helpful. The first jumps were held here more than 75 years ago, started by a now-legendary local, John Satre, who moved here from Norway and brought his expertise in skiing and jumping to the Northwest Corner.Local legend has it that a group of boys was piling up snow in front of St. John’s Church on Main Street and then skiing off the top. A man walked up to them, and according to Jimmy Dubois, one of the kids who was there at the time (but who has since passed away, in his mid-90s), “He asked if we’d let him ‘yump.’ It was the first time we’d ever heard the word ‘yump.’ So we said, yeah, you can ‘yump.’”That man was John Satre. The first competition-scale jump was constructed farther down Main Street, near the intersection with Salmon Kill Road and eventually a 65-meter wooden jump tower was constructed on a hill off Indian Cave Road, behind Scoville Library. That tower was recently replaced by a sturdier tower that is known as a K70.SWSA has taken charge of the jumps, which now include the U.S. Eastern jumping championships held on the Sunday of the weekend-long competition. The Saturday jumps are called the Salisbury Invitational; jumpers compete for the silver SWSA Cup. They have to win the Salisbury Invitational three times to earn the cup.Olympic and international stars have lived and competed here over the past three-quarters of a century. Many of them made their homes here as well. Two brothers of John Satre, Ottar and Magnus, lived in Salisbury and were on the U.S. cross country skiing and ski jumping teams for the famous 1936 Olympics in Germany, as was Salisbury resident and long-time local instructor Birger Torrissen.A skier from a younger generation, John Harney Jr., said it was an incredible experience to learn skiing as a youngster here. Torrissen and Ole Hegge, known in Norway as “The King of Skiing,” would call out encouragement as the children whizzed by them.“These men were living legends,” Harney said, still sounding awestruck years later. Harney himself was an alternate member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team. Hegge competed in the 1928 and 1932 Olympics and was named Best Ski Jumper in the World one year.Olle Zetterstrom, a native of Sweden, lived in North Canaan and Norfolk and was on the U.S. ski team for the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid and Mary Bird Young of Sharon was in the first women’s downhill and slalom ski races in the 1938 games.Roy Sherwood, who still lives in Salisbury, competed in the 1956 games in Italy as a jumper. Sherwood in the 1950s jumped in the style that was fashionable in those days (earlier jumpers actually held their arms straight out in front of their heads, like Superman or a high diver). Contemporary jumpers use what is known as the V-formation. To learn more about SWSA, Alpine jumping, Jumpfest and more, keep an eye on the pages of The Lakeville Journal and visit the SWSA website at www.jumpfest.org.
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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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