The new Main Street Fort Dodge program will be managed by an experienced director of a similar program in Chariton who will start on the job next week.

Kris Patrick will begin working as the executive director of Main Street Fort Dodge on Monday. She most recently served as both the coordinator of Main Street Chariton and executive director of the Chariton Area Chamber of Commerce.

“I think Fort Dodge is doing some really cool things to generate buzz,” Patrick said Wednesday afternoon. “Also, you have a gorgeous downtown.”

She described herself as “very, very excited” about starting her new job.

“Kris Patrick was hands down the most enthusiastic, the best-informed and she had the warmest personality,” said Steve Pederson, the president of the Main Street Fort Dodge/Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District board.

Pederson said the board was impressed by her experience as both a Main Street director and as the owner of a small business. He added that Patrick is the person who trains all new Main Street directors in Iowa.

According to Pederson, Patrick worked with more than 200 volunteers in Chariton.

“She has a real strength for bringing people together and making sure they get the most satisfaction from their volunteer experience,” he said.

Patrick will not be an employee of the city government or the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance. She will be an employee of Main Street Fort Dodge. According to Pederson, the Main Street/SSMID board offered her the job in late October. Her hiring was announced Wednesday.

Pederson said her starting salary will be $45,000. She will also receive a stipend of up to $5,000 a year to help pay for health insurance.

Patrick became the coordinator of Main Street Chariton in July 2012.

“I decided this is what I want to do,” she said.

In 2014, she assumed the additional duties of executive director of the Chariton Area Chamber of Commerce.

She grew up in Des Moines and graduated from North High School there. She studied dance at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. She started a dance career that included serving as an assistant director of the Iowa Dance Theater.

She later opened her own dance studio in Chariton. In 2010, she suffered a back injury that caused her to stop teaching dance. That led to a career change.

She and her husband, Byron, have four grown sons.

Fort Dodge was readmitted to the Main Street Iowa program this year. The Main Street program focuses on design, organization, promotion and economic vitality to help downtown areas thrive.

Meet & Greet

Kris Patrick, the new director of Main Street Fort Dodge, will be introduced during a meet and greet session Tuesday.

That session will be from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, 24 N. Ninth St.