Chris Stangel
Executive Director

New DFA leader loves the 'vibe'

Chris Stangel recalls recently making a video downtown amid the sounds of restoration work on a building, vehicles passing, and even a University of North Alabama Marching Pride practice session.

Stangel, the new Downtown Florence Alliance *(DFA) executive director, said it dawned on him that those weren't noises interrupting the video.

Instead, they were the sounds of a successful downtown.

"That's what downtown is," he said. "It is a living, breathing, thriving entity."

For Stangel, his new position also helps cement his homecoming.

After growing up in Florence, where his father worked at the International Fertilizer Development Center on the Tennessee Valley Authority Reservation, Stangel graduated from the University of Wisconsin and went to work for the Greater Milwaukee Committee, a private sector civic organization.

"That taught me a lot," he said. "I saw how businesses and the city and state could work together."

Stangel said the "entrepreneurial bug bit" after that.

He moved to the West Coast and East Coast on projects involving financial work and start-ups.

He also felt an urge to return to Florence, especially when his mother, June Stangel, purchased the former home of George Washington Geothals on Wood Avenue.

That brought her son fully into the restoration process.

Along the way, he started volunteering in various ventures, including DFA and the city's historical preservation society, and found himself enjoying living downtown.

"I like to be here just to get the feel and vibe," Stangel said. "There really is great energy. This area has long been about bringing in people from outside and those people seeing what a great area this is and staying."

Earlier this year, the DFA executive director position opened up, and Stangel saw it as the ideal opportunity to combine his experience and all downtown has to offer.

His vision is one of bringing together all entities, including businesses, the arts, tourism, UNA, government and Florence residents and shoppers, for the betterment of downtown.

"Downtown is our heart," Stangel said. "It ties everybody together. When those opportunities arise we want to be that partner. We're known for First Fridays and the Christmas parade, but we're actually much more than that."

He speaks highly of the artistic aspects of Florence, saying there is a creative spirit here.

"I'm a big fan of everything creative," Stangel said. "There is so much creativity in this town. It's a wonderful canvas, and you just want to add your mark to it. I'm seeing what we can do to magnify that and see how to be a good partner."

He said he is grateful to have the opportunity to live in that restored Wood Avenue residence with his mother and also work downtown.

"She and the community made it all happen," Stangel said.

By Bernie Delinski at The Times Daily

bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com or 256-740-5739. Twitter @TD_BDelinski