SHARON —The Sharon Fire Department and Ambulance Squad sponsored an American Heart Association (AHA)-approved Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) class at the firehouse on Oct. 2. About 36 people attended the class including untrained members of the community who wanted to learn CPR as well as some members of the ambulance squad who needed recertification.The class was lead by Sharon Ambulance Squad member Al Tortorella. The EMS Institute at Sharon Hospital provided equipment for the class, including practice dummies.Tortorella has been an EMT for more than 20 years and is a trained instructor.Dave Cadwell, director of the EMS Institute, explained the class was designed for both the general public and for health professionals. Individuals who completed the training would be certified by the AHA.“CPR is comprised of two elements: chest compressions and breathing,” Tortorella said. The purpose of chest compressions, he said, is to do the work of the heart, which may have stopped beating, and to keep blood flowing through the body. The instructor stressed that the main objective of that evening’s training was to teach the proper way to do chest compressions.“The American Heart Association used to say it was essential to do both chest compressions and breathing to save a person.”Now it is believed that the chest compressions are more important than the breathing, he said, especially when CPR is being administered by lay people. Trained emergency service volunteers and professionals are expected to know how to administer both compressions and breathing; lay people trained in just compressions are considered CPR-trained by the AHA.Videos shown in the class demonstrated the proper techniques for administering CPR.Chest compressions are done at a rate of at least 100 per minute, but never at more than 120. If breathing is done, two breaths are given after every 30 compressions.Due to the danger of communicable diseases, it was explained that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is no longer done. Each class participant was given a plastic tube, to keep, to use when administering breathing. The tube has two ends; one is inserted in the caregiver’s mouth, the other into the patient’s mouth or into a mask, if available, that fits over the patient’s nose and mouth.Students were divided into groups of three. Each had the opportunity to practice both chest compressions and breathing.Participants were then shown how to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Tortorella explained that there are now a number of AEDs at central locations around town. When available, AEDs offer another way to restart a heart that has just stopped working. Cadwell said that “many more participants came than originally signed up. It was heartwarming to see people of all ages taking part in this training.”
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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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