WEBUTUCK – The Webutuck Warriors chanted and cheered on Friday afternoon, while packed into the high school gymnasium for their winter pep rally – all as part of the school district’s Spirit Week. Students from grades seven through 12 proudly occupied the bleachers, from where athletes sauntered to the center of the gym floor and cried out for their team – all in the name of school pride.“It shows that we have school spirit,” said varsity cheerleader Kristy Weber, a junior at Webutuck High School. “And it brings the school together.”It certainly did. Students celebrated their winter athletes that day, though teams from throughout the year were also called on deck to be recognized for their achievements.“The whole student body shows support for the teams,” said Athletic Director John Zenz. “The whole school is in this room, and it shows support to those teams.”As far as what it meant to the athletes, Zenz said it was immeasurable.“The athletes feel really good about it,” he said. “They look forward to this chance to be in front of the student body; it shows togetherness. “What I sense as a coach is that they really like it.,” he added. “The sense of school, the sense of team, getting out there in front of the whole student body is something they definitely look forward too.”Junior varsity cheerleader Victoria Gilleo agreed, though she was a bit anxious before her squad’s performance.“I’m a little nervous, but excited,” the seventh grader said. “But having a pep rally is really cool.”“It’s uniting,” said Superintendent of Schools James Gratto. “It brings everybody together and gives us a sense of pride. And we have a lot to be proud of. We’re on the right track and have a great sense of community in this school.”There are usually two pep rallies each year at the school.The pep rally was only a part of Friday’s activities; after school there was to be a basketball game against Rhinebeck, and later Friday night a winter dance.
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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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