Suwon 'Loving Maehyang-dong Meeting' Holds Garden Party at Maehyang Village Community Garden
[News S=Reporter Lee Min-jung] The 'Loving Maehyang-dong Meeting (Chairman Song Jong, hereinafter "Maehyang Meeting")' held a 'Community Garden Party' on the 4th at noon at 'Maehyang-jeong' in the Maehyang Village Community Garden in Maehyang-dong, Paldal-gu, Suwon, to commemorate four years of the village-building project.
The event was attended by approximately 60 people including 20 external guests including Lee Byung-jin, President of the Suwon Urban Foundation, 30 members, and 10 family members.
The event began with a chorus of the 'Maehyang Song,' composed by Oh Hyun-gyu, Chairman of the Suwon Arts & Culture Council, and with lyrics by Chairman Song Jong. It continued with the opening of Maehyang Gallery, which displayed approximately 30 member works including poems, paintings, and photographs created through the 'Maehyang Village Project with Poetry and Art,' which was selected in last year's Suwon Urban Foundation grant project, and a plaque unveiling ceremony for the signboard created by member Kim Chung-young.
The event then proceeded to a meal where attendees shared delicious food prepared through several meetings organized by Vice-Chairman Chae Young-ja and Ko Young-hee, Women Team Leader of the community garden, with female members. The food ingredients consisted of vegetables grown in the community garden and ingredients donated by members, adding special meaning to the meal. In particular, 11 members gathered at the Haenggung-dong Eoulreum Center kitchen the day before the event to prepare 60 servings, while alcoholic beverages, beverages, and fruits were prepared through contributions from members.
Meanwhile, the venue for this event was the Maehyang Community Garden created by Maehyang Meeting members in 2024, which has become a healing space where people touch soil and grow vegetables, as well as a community space where community garden crops are exchanged with one another.
Chairman Song Jong said, "I express deep gratitude to Samil Industrial High School (Samil Academy), Paldal-gu Office, Suwon City Green Space Division, and the Suwon Urban Foundation for their role as a catalyst and primer for changing the village," and added, "I express heartfelt gratitude to the approximately 40 members who have been with us over the past four years."
