Annual St. Patrick’s parade set for Friday in Hot Springs
HOT SPRINGS — “We were sitting around in a local establishment discussing our favorite holidays,” said Steve Arrison, chief executive officer for Visit Hot Springs. “And I brought up St. Patrick’s Day and said we should have a parade.”
Later, Arrison said, somebody sent him an article from Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and it said how Bridge Street in downtown Hot Springs was one of the shortest working streets in America.
“It is not an alley or anything, but it is 98 feet long,” Arrison said. “Thus, the shortest parade was imagined.”
The First Ever 14th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place Friday, with the festivities scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and the parade to start at exactly 6:30 p.m.
“It is a really fun family event,” Arrison said. “Everybody really enjoys it. There is no cost or anything. Just come early and watch it.”
The 2017 grand marshal for the parade is actor Alfonso Ribeiro, who is probably best known as playing Carlton Banks on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Ribeiro is currently the host of America’s Funniest Home
Videos, becoming the first African-American to do so. He also competed on and eventually won season 19 of Dancing With the Stars.
“We are really looking forward to having Alfonso,” Arrison said.
According to Arrison, the previous grand marshals for the parade include George Wendt and John Ratzenberger from
Cheers; TV star Mario Lopez; comedian and actor Pauly Shore; and Mike Rowe from the television show Dirty Jobs.
“John Corbett and Bo Derek have hosted the parade twice,” Arrison said, “once together and once separate.”
Other former grand marshals include actor Tim Matheson, actor and comedian Jim Belushi, and NASCAR driver Mark Martin. Actor Kevin Bacon and his brother Michael Bacon co-hosted the parade in 2015.
“We had Gary Busey last year, and that was interesting, to say the least …,” Arrison said. “We haven’t had a bad one.
“Jim Belushi was great. It is fun to introduce them to Hot Springs, Arkansas.”
Arrison said that depending on their schedule, some of the guests come early or stay later and try to enjoy the town.
“They go out and around the community,” Arrison said.
Former WWE Superstar Ric Flair will be the official starter for the parade.
“Ric Flair’s flamboyantly outrageous personality and his reputation for having a fun-loving great time fit perfectly with our little parade’s guiding spirit,” Arrison said in a statement. “We’ve had some colorful celebrities as participants over the years, but Ric may just be the most colorful personality to ever join us here in Hot Springs.”
Arrison said Flair will crown the king and queen of the parade.
“He is the honoree, so to speak,” Arrison said. “Hopefully, [he and Ribeiro] will have a lot of fun while they are here.”
The band Uncle Kracker will give a free concert immediately following the parade.
“There will also be a team of six black-and-white Clydesdale horses from Express Employment Professional and 12 of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” Arrison said in a release.
Arrison said there will not be any time for autographs or anything like that because of the busy schedule for the celebrities and the size of the crowds.
“There is such a demand for that; they just don’t have time,” Arrison said. “If we put them behind a table, they’d be there forever.”
Wendt, who was the grand marshal in 2005, was able to do it the first year because the crowd was not as big.
“We gave him a cold drink and a place to sit, and he was there all night,” Arrison said. “We tried to do the same thing again when we had Mario Lopez [in 2007], but the crowds have gotten so big we just really can’t do that anymore.”