Remember the old days when people used to toss their trash out the windows of their cars? Remember the Keep America Beautiful campaign in the 1970s featuring a crying American Indian as he pulled his canoe up on a litter-strewn beach? () The voiceover intones “People start pollution. People can stop it.”When I was a kid, I would accompany my father on dump runs. The dump was just a big pile of garbage. I remember the stink, the dirt, the decay. There were even a couple of junkyard dogs scavenging for dinner. There was no sorting, no recycling, no composting.It’s been a long time since the Northwest Corner and the Tri-state area have seen much littering or obvious pollution. Concerned citizens and environmental protection groups have banded together periodically to fight threats to our environment. Remember the Stop The Plant campaign to prohibit St. Lawrence Cement from building a state-of-the-art facility in Hudson, N.Y.? Both the Housatonic and Hudson Rivers are cleaner and healthier waterways than they were even 20 years ago, thanks in large part to Riverkeeper and local citizen groups. So, we have a good record when it comes to fighting big business to protect our corner of paradise, but what about when we’re faced with local initiatives that demand a lower level of outrage but a more constant level of vigilance?Recently, the Salisbury/Sharon Transfer Station Recycling and Advisory Committee reopened the discussion of adopting a “Pay as You Throw” fee system. This latest reform is called SMART (Save Money and Recycle More Trash). And it is. Waste and its disposal is a decidedly first-world problem. Our consumer society gobbles up everything in sight, but then spits it out with apparently little concern for the result. The relentless desire for bigger, brighter, better, newer which quickly becomes used, broken and unwanted, demands that even if we can’t slow the rate of our consumerism, at the least, we deal conscientiously with our trash. u u uSMART does this in the most economical and fair-minded manner. We are each responsible for what we use and generate, so waste management must start in the home. Most of what we discard can be recycled. Let’s look at what is NOT garbage or trash: Returnables and recyclables (plastic, metal cans, and glass); cardboard; paper, magazines, newspapers, envelopes, etc.; construction debris; unwanted electronics, computers and TVs; light bulbs and batteries. In addition, at the Salisbury/Sharon Transfer Station, there are two large containers for unwanted clothes and shoes and of course, the Swap Shop, beloved of scavengers, kids and thrifty-minded Yankees alike. After reuse, recycling and composting, it’s hard to imagine what’s left to go in the trash bags.It is highly unlikely that after sorting their garbage a family of five will still be producing five bags of garbage every week — but if they are, they should be responsible for it. If a single resident generates only one bag of trash every two weeks — he should be rewarded for his low consumption. The SMART program doesn’t require anything more than a reasonable level of conscientiousness. And it actually starts in the store. When shopping, choose products that have a minimal amount of packaging. Buy in bulk. Skip the plastic bag in the vegetable aisle if you’re only getting a couple of items. Reuse shopping bags or bring a tote bag.It’s natural to resist because change is hard. But every household has the obligation to deal responsibly with the waste they produce. It’s a simple learning curve, based on sorting. I predict, if you’re not recycling now, you’ll be amazed to find that you like doing it. In addition, once you start, you’ll discover it’s an accurate and interesting way to track your shopping habits. Nothing like seeing a trash bin of plastic water bottles to make you reconsider drinking tap, or a box of monthly bills to consider signing up for online banking. In addition, there’s a sense of camaraderie and goodwill that comes with a visit to the transfer station. I’m not kidding! In the end it doesn’t really matter what the motivation to reduce is: whether it’s to contribute to the greening of our planet or to reduce the burden on an individual’s pocketbook, it brings about the right result. Recycling is its own reward.Tara Kelly, a Lakeville Journal Company copy editor, is an avid follower of social trends. Reach her at tarakny@earthlink.net.
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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.
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