NORTH CANAAN — A second try at holding the annual town meeting to consider the 2011-12 budget proposal was postponed last week as town officials awaited word on the state budget and how it will affect grants and income to the town.The town meeting to vote on local town and school spending was originally set for May 10. It was put off to May 17, when it was convened with about 20 people in attendance; a motion was approved to adjourn to May 31.The delay gives the Board of Finance an opportunity to adjust the budget to compensate for a significant drop in state funding, if necessary. The state Legislature last week was continuing to deal with a number of difficult budgeting decisions and negotiations. Unlike other regional towns, which have mostly approved their budgets for the coming fiscal year (which begins July 1), North Canaan is waiting because it receives a large percentage of its education budget from the state in the form of Education Cost Sharing (ECS). Finance board Chairman Louis Allyn said the town receives about $2.5 million against a budget of more than $4 million for North Canaan Elementary School.Once the budget is approved, the only way to increase revenue is by raising the mill rate.“We’re trying to avoid raising taxes,” First Selectman Douglas Humes said. “If we have to, after we hear from the state, we’ll go back and make budget cuts.”Total proposed spending is already at a decrease of just over 1 percent, or $212,000. That cushion would disappear if there is even a 10 percent cut to the Education Cost Sharing grant.Town officials are taking a wait-and-see approach. The town and state have until June 30 to enact their budgets. If either should fail to do so, they would continue to operate under current budget numbers for the coming year.Also awaiting taxpayer approval at the town meeting is renewal of a two-year contract for the resident state trooper program. Costs for that program that will increase by 9.6 percent to $79,190 in the new fiscal year.Allyn said uncertainty over revenues and taxes is compounded by the full 10-year revaluation of properties that will be conducted this year. Changes will be applied to tax bills beginning July 2012. It is difficult to say where the grand list (the assessed value of taxable property) will go. Assessments begin with the real estate market and recent property sales. Property owners who made improvements will also see an assessment increase. How much that aggregate will drive up the grand list, and possibly hold the mill rate down, remains to be seen.Another unknown quantity is the total of line items in the school budget for noncertified staff. That includes the school counselor, nurse, secretaries, custodians and teacher assistants. Principal Rosemary Keilty said that the two sides have been far apart on contractual issues, but union negotiations were set to go to mediation May 20. Keilty later reported a contract agreement was in place but would not be ratified before the May 31 town meeting.“Any increase would not be a drastic amount, and it may be a wash with a possible decrease to the insurance line,” Keilty said. “Three or four people are on the fence about taking health benefits. We’ve given them until June 1 to decide. That could be a significant savings.”If additional funding is needed for noncertified salaries, the school will have to go to the finance board for an appropriation.
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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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