SALISBURY — There will be a public hearing on the revised town zoning regulations Tuesday, March 5, 6:45 p.m. at Town Hall.At the Jan. 15 meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) set the date. Town planning consultant Tom McGowan went through several edits to the regulations with the commission members, including a lengthy discussion about the difference between accessory apartments, accessory buildings and apartments located in accessory buildings.Also receiving attention were the sections dealing with buildable areas and ordinary high water marks.The revised regulations will be proofread by P&Z recording secretary Garrett Richardson and Zoning Enforcement Officer Nancy Brusie, and then be sent to the Northwestern Connecticut Council of Governments for comment. The council is made up of the first selectmen from nine Litchfield County towns, including the six towns in the Region One School District.The commission’s goal is to have the revised regulations on the town’s website by Feb. 1.The P&Z has been incorporating suggestions from the public that were collected during a series of workshops held in the fall of 2012. The public hearing is the next formal step in the process.Jocelyn Ayer, the housing coordinator for the Affordable Housing Commission, will attend the Feb. 5 P&Z meeting to discuss Incentive Housing Zones. (Ayer is also a planner with the Northwestern Connecticut Planning Collaborative.)In other business, P&Z Chairman Michael Klemens said he would meet with First Selectman Curtis Rand during the next two weeks, in part to discuss implementing the new Town Plan of Conservation and Development.The commission discussed the necessity of formally closing hearings and meetings with a motion, a second and a vote. Mike Flint suggested a roll call vote, but Klemens demurred, saying he only called the roll on votes affecting policy, not for administrative matters.Klemens asked Richardson to remind the commission if they stray from the usual procedures. “We don’t want any legal challenges.”
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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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