A stranger may hand you a bouquet today in an effort to make you smile. A florist may offer you two free flower bunches, one to keep and one to gift. What's this all about? The annual Petal It Forward giveaway, which takes place this year on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

The event, sponsored by the Society of American Florists, calls attention to the variety of floral products grown in the U.S. and the positive, instant impact of giving and receiving flowers.

-- Janet Eastman

jeastman@oregonian.com

503-294-4072

@janeteastman

Dandelions Flowers & Gifts

Local growers, wholesalers and retailers are among those participating in 400 cities. Each florist chooses how to pass out the bundles. They can spread joy to residents in assisted living facilities, passersby and people stuck in traffic.

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Sunflower Flats

And they could ask you to be a floral goodwill ambassador by asking you to bring a bouquet to a friend, co-worker or someone you don't know.

The idea: That it's not only fun to receive flowers and kindness, but it feels good to give.

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Sunflower Flats

The national event's title was inspired by the 2000 movie, "Pay it Forward," and the movement to respond to a kindness by doing a favor for someone else, who then does something nice for another person, and the acts of kindness spread.

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Botanica Floral Design

Josef Reiter and his team at Botanica Floral Design in Northeast Portland are making a variety of small bouquets featuring many locally grown flowers such as lilies, calla lilies, hydrangea, roses, carnations, mums and more. They will be passing out the bouquets around 1 p.m. by the Hollywood Theatre.

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Botanica Floral Design

"We love flowers and most people never receive them or even purchase some for themselves," says Josef Reiter of Botanica Floral Design, who has participated in the program since the 2015 debut of Petal It Forward. "And if they do, it is for a special event. We believe that everyday is special and that you don't need a reason to buy or give flowers. This is a great event and we love participating. This is our 5th year taking part.

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Oregon Flowers

Robyn Peterka and her team from Portland-based Frank Adams Wholesale Florist collected donated flowers from growers, as it has done since the beginning. They will be at Pioneer Courthouse Square starting at 2:30 pm. Wednesday.

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Broadway Floral

This is Broadway Floral Home and Garden's first year participating in the giveaway. Their team plans to be handing out both bouquets made with hydrangea, roses, dahlias, mums, alstro or solidago, and single-stem flowers with tree ferns throughout inner Northeast Portland near Lloyd Center and at their store at 1638 N.E. Broadway St., while supply lasts.

"We feel this is a great community building activity and in today's climate, we can all use a lift," says Janice Fick of Broadway Floral.

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Goose Hollow Flowers

Michelle O'Brien of Goose Hollow Flowers in Southwest Portland will give away bouquets near her shop at 1219 S.W. 19th Ave. and beyond. During last year's Petal It Forward, O'Brien said: "My favorite part of the day is to recruit my kids after school to also go forth and hand out flowers. She adds that "getting flowers from a sweet little kid makes many ladies tear up. I'm always surprised at how many people tell us no one has ever given them flowers before. In this day and age, we definitely can use more kindness along the way!"

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Oregon Flowers

Tyler Meskers of Oregon Flowers in Aurora has donated thousands of stems of lilies in assorted colors to local wholesalers during the event's four-year history.

Members of the family-owned business will be actively "petaling it forward" at the Aurora City Park, 21081 Main St N.E., starting at 2:30 p.m.

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Oregon Flowers

"This is a great opportunity for our company to give back to the local community," says Meskers, whose flower farm was started by his parents, Martin and Helene Meskers, more than 30 years ago and has grown to become Oregon's largest cut flower nursery. "We can't wait to hand out happiness through the beautiful product we locally grow."

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Dandelions Flowers & Gifts

If you want to plug into flower power, here is a list of some of the florists participating in the Petal It Forward flower giveaway to promote local growers while supplies last:

Beaverton: Westside Florist (503-642-9992)

Corvallis: Penguin Flowers (541-754-0118)

North Bend: Petal to the Metal Flowers (541-751-8880)

Portland: Botanica Floral Design (503-358-4687); Broadway Floral Home and Garden (503-288-5537); Frank Adams Wholesale Florist (503-286-8990); Floral Sunshine (503-974-4740); Goose Hollow Flowers (503-228-8107); Kern Park Flower Shoppe (503-771-9000); Wishing Well Floral (503-557-3823)

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Dandelions Flowers & Gifts

Shirley A. Lyons and her team at Dandelions Flowers & Gifts in Eugene made bouquets with roses and lilies from Oregon Flowers for the 2017 Petal It Forward event. "It is truly an all-industry event," said Lyons. "Growers, wholesalers and retailers like ourselves across America are working on our flower bouquets for Petal It Forward. The joy of the faces reminds us all that flowers really do make people happy."

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Sunflower Flats

Since each person is given two bouquets -- one to keep and one to give away -- Natalie Rieger of Sunflower Flats said last year that she was able to reinforce the idea that it's not only great to receive flowers and kindness, but it feels just as good to give it away, too. "It made my day to make everyone else's day," she said in 2017. "People were surprised and genuinely thankful to receive this random gift of beautiful flowers."

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Old Town Florist

In 2016, Wendi Day, owner of Old Town Florist in Portland's Pearl District, participated in the Petal It Forward flower giveaway. "We want to spread flower love around Portland," she said.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Branded sleeves allow the Meskers of Oregon Flowers in Aurora to alert consumers to the Oregon grown product.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Family-owned Oregon Flowers in Aurora grows peonies and other flowers.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Family-owned Oregon Flowers in Aurora delivers cut flower orders all year round.

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Society of American Florists

Petal It Forward is sponsored by the

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Society of American Florists

Petal It Forward is sponsored by the

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Florists in All 50 States Plan to Petal It Forward on Oct. 24 https://t.co/HDZPZcwmyl What a delightful way to promote Flower Power across the country and in DC!! Horticulture brings people together everyday!! — Cottage In The Court (@CottageinCourt) October 24, 2018

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Our beautiful Petal It Forward bouquets, provided by our Bill Doran Company, Albany, NY 💐💐💐❤ pic.twitter.com/BtmVympbhG — Rulfs Orchard (@RulfsOrchard) October 23, 2018

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Tomorrow our team is hitting the streets of Des Moines and giving away free flowers for #petalitforward! We’re getting excited!! Raise your hand if you’d like to get free flowers from a stranger! 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♂️🙋🏼‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/29BvHIDiD0 — Plaza Florist (@PlazaFloristDM) October 23, 2018

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Teefey Flowers and Fiddly Fig to give out free flowers on Petal It Forward Day https://t.co/wnXwb91U1o pic.twitter.com/HUj3NdRLRe — martincitytelegraph (@McTelegraph) October 23, 2018

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Cullman Florist preparing to ‘petal it forward’ Wednesdayhttps://t.co/Iy79TCJeOG pic.twitter.com/j3WlhUICoC — The Cullman Tribune (@CullmanTribune) October 23, 2018

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Join us tomorrow to help #petalitforward. We will be in the Broadway area spreading smiles with a bouquet to keep and one to give away! #dehns_flowers @DehnFlowers pic.twitter.com/D4S6tC9EQ8 — Dehn’s Flowers (@DehnFlowers) October 23, 2018