Women to Watch: Kristina Cannon is at the forefront of Skowhegan's revitalization

FILE PHOTO Kristina Cannon joined Main Street Skowhegan in 2015 and has helped with the revitalization of the downtown.

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By Alexis Wells

Main Street Skowhegan

65 Water St., Skowhegan mainstreetskowhegan.org

Founded: 2005

What it does: Main Street Skowhegan is a 501(c)3 nonprofit working to revitalize Skowhegan and improve the quality of life for area residents. The work is focused on implementing impactful economic development initiatives, including entrepreneurial and business support programs, to promote the region.

Employees: 10

See all the 2024 Mainebiz Women to Watch profiles
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In recent years, Skowhegan has seen a huge transformation. Kristina Cannon is leading the town through revitalization. With more than $650 million in investment underway, the momentum in Skowhegan is palpable, but Cannon says there’s a lot more work to do.

Mainebiz: How do you build a relationship with the people and businesses downtown?

Kristina Cannon: Right from the get-go, it was important that I build trust. To do that, I did my best to be present and listen, meet with people and show my face regularly; I followed through on what I said I’d do, worked hard and brought new opportunities to Skowhegan.

I started small by adding new programs and events that would benefit businesses. In my first year, we began celebrating Small Business Saturday, which resulted in several businesses experiencing their best sales days ever. We launched the Skowhegan Craft Brew Fest, which drew hundreds of people to town in 2016 and now attracts more than 1,000 annually from all over the Northeast.

In the fall of 2017, I drafted a proposal to bring the state’s moose lottery event to the Skowhegan Fairgrounds. We were selected as the 2018 host and had an estimated 6,000 in Skowhegan for the largest moose lottery in the state’s history. It might have been this event that really helped build trust and respect for our organization among our residents and business owners.

MB: Who is your leadership role model?

KC: I grew up on my family’s dairy farm watching my father manage the business and his employees. He would never ask an employee to do something he wouldn’t do, and often he took the dirtiest or the hardest job so others didn’t have to.

He led by example and expected others to follow — and they did because his quiet leadership style earned the respect of others. He has a work ethic like no other, and though he’s retired now and living his best life, that remains true.

MB: What is ahead for Skowhegan?

KC: During our town-wide strategic planning initiative in 2016, we talked to more than 500 residents and community members to learn more about what they wanted for Skowhegan’s future. The continued growth of regional agriculture and our local food hub, as well as opportunities for community transformation through outdoor recreation, were top priorities. As a result, we’ve focused much of our work on those two sectors.

We are working on the following initiatives:

Development of a commercial kitchen incubator in downtown Skowhegan that will include a shared-use commercial kitchen for food entrepreneurs, service programming for incubation, community programming for residents and visitors.
Redevelopment of the downtown riverfront into a promenade, adding river viewing areas and improved access into the gorge and connecting our commercial district to our greatest natural asset.
Project management and fundraising for the future Skowhegan River Park, an initiative that will redevelop our industrial downtown river corridor into an accessible outdoor recreation asset with an expanded trail network and enhanced whitewater. The river park will not only benefit community members through improved river access and free recreation opportunities.
We are also collaborating with several other partners on a couple of projects that will help address traffic congestion, grow the trail network, create greater connectivity between trailheads and neighborhoods and improve bike and pedestrian safety.

MB: You have been described as someone who has transformed the community. How did you get started?

KC: I started my career at an advertising agency in Boston but moved back home to central Maine after the market crashed in 2009. I spent a couple of years in higher ed, most recently in the communications office at Colby College, but my love for Maine and the place where I grew up spurred my transition to Main Street Skowhegan in 2015.

Community economic development is not for the faint of heart — at minimum it requires dedication, hard work and tenacity. I love my job and every day I’m thankful that I get to help revitalize Skowhegan and central Maine. We have so many exciting projects underway and I can’t wait to see them all come to fruition.