The City of Hancock’s Ryan Street Community Garden

Project Description

The Ryan Street Community Garden (RSCG) was established in 2010 and has continued to expand each year. RSCG feeds, educates, and serves the community and is conveniently located in the middle of historic downtown Hancock. However, the land on which RSCG grew was owned by Finlandia University, who filed for bankruptcy in 2023. RSCG and the City of Hancock had to act quickly to save our community garden as the property was going to be sold. Instead, the residents of the City of Hancock raised $6,000 through small donations that was matched by the MEDC Public Spaces and Community Spaces program. Today, the Ryan Street Community Garden continues to grow and is now a Public Park of the City of Hancock, thus preserving the garden’s future generations to enjoy. RSCG provides educational opportunities, helps feed over 50 community member and has become an amazing community space for all residents.

Is your project easy to replicate in other communities (clear in its impact and execution for other communities)?

The City of Hancock believes that creating a community garden is fairly easy to create. Keeping the Ryan Street Community Garden thriving with educational and community activities becomes a challenge at times. It’s well worth the efforts to do so for the overall benefits and success for our community.

What is the Community Wealth Impact (based on one or more of the categories you selected) of your project?

The saving of the Ryan Street Community Garden allows the City of Hancock to have the engagement with our citizens to teach them how to grow their own food and the health benefits of eating produce that is grown locally. The community support allows for our citizens to have a vested interest in our hometown community garden and allows the interaction for community events.

Describe the creativity and originality of your project.

The Ryan Street Community Garden can now continue to be a jewel for the City of Hancock. Located in the middle of our downtown district allows us to shine a light on how valuable and beautiful community gardens can be for a city. The creativity and originality come from the planning of how the garden grows which entices passerby to visit. The added feature of the Ryan Street Community Garden Gate is another unique feature to our community garden, and we’ve added art from the Copper Country Community Art Center’s permanent collection to add more value for our residents and visitors.