Petal It Forward Flowers the Town In Kindness

(ABC 6 News) – The city of Austin “bloomed” with small acts of kindness on Oct. 18.

The Hardy Geranium Floral and Gift Shop held its eighth annual Petal It Forward Day, handing out bouquets of flowers to people all around town.

The event began on Main Street outside the Spam Museum, but soon spread to restaurants, schools and even the Mower County Court House.

Volunteers have offered up the floral arrangements thousands of times over the year, and they say they’ve only been turned down by one person.

Owner of The Hardy Geranium Vicki Trimble said “Flowers are the best way to remind people there’s still kindness in this world.”

“It’s always been a really good thing and it’s too encourage people, show people there’s kindness,” she added. “There’s too much horror in the world right now. And I think today is really a special day with everything going on that everybody just gives a little.”

Petal It Forward started nationwide in 2015 stemming from the work of the National Floral Association.

According to Trimble, the random acts of kindness have become a major event in Austin, with volunteers handing out around 250 bouquets to people each year.