Icheon City Selects 5 Villages for '2025 Gyeonggi Province Village Garden Project'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Eom In-yong] Icheon City announced on the 23rd that five villages were selected in the '2025 Gyeonggi Province Village Garden Project' competition, securing 900 million won in project funds.

The village garden project is an initiative to develop unused and vacant lands within the city that require environmental improvement into gardens. It is divided into two categories: 'Citizen Participation-Type Village Gardens,' in which the village community leads the project from planning to completion, and 'Gardens for All,' which is being established in a city for the first time in the province with the capacity to provide education and operate programs.

In this competition, the city achieved the outcome of selecting △Narae-ri Mill Village Garden (Narae-ri), △Deokpyeong Field Sunny Garden (Deokpyeong 1-ri), △Dream Flower Garden Blooming Together (Ocheon 4·5-ri), △Memory Garden (Songmal-ri), and △Village Guardian Juniper Garden (Sanseong 2-ri) as the final selections.

The Gyeonggi Province Village Garden Project aims for village communities to serve as the main actors in planning and developing village gardens, and to create a happy community culture through garden maintenance.

The participating entities are communities of 10 or more people capable of establishing and maintaining gardens. Project funds range from 150 to 200 million won per village garden site, and target areas include vacant lands, underutilized lands, leftover plots, and aging parks within villages.

Notably, Ocheon 4·5-ri's 'Dream Flower Garden Blooming Together' was rejected in the 2024 competition but successfully made a comeback this year. During the design evaluation, numerous citizens and city council members attended, actively explaining the project's driving force, preparation plans, and maintenance strategies. With the strong support of Provincial Council Member Heo Won, the project achieved the feat of being selected for the 2025 Gyeonggi Province Village Garden competition.

Icheon City Mayor Kim Kyung-hee stated, "The Gyeonggi Province village garden project will provide an opportunity for citizens to experience open garden culture, and we will make efforts to expand garden culture that citizens can experience together."