100 things to about Hot Springs
World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade
It’s funny how the smallest ideas can grow into the biggest things.
Each year, thousands (the exact number depends on who you ask) of green-clad revelers pack the sidewalks around 98-foot-long Bridge Street in downtown Hot Springs for what is undoubtedly the quirkiest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the country.
It all began in 2004, when Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, the parade’s organizer, and a group of acquaintances gathered in a pub at Spencer’s Corner and started talking about their favorite holidays.
Arrison mentioned that St. Paddy’s Day was his personal favorite, and then the lightbulb went off: he recalled seeing an article, provided by the Garland County Historical Society, relating how Bridge Street, located just outside, was the shortest street in everyday use.
Back in the day, 50-plus years ago, Bridge Street was 66 feet long, but it was extended when a parking lot was built behind Spencer’s Corner.
Wouldn’t that make the perfect spot to hold the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade?, he wondered. And the rest, as they say, is history. The first grand marshals were the late city director, Robert “Bob” Wheeler, and Dick Kelley, President Clinton’s stepfather. “We didn’t know if anybody would be there,” Arrison said. Those doubts turned out to be unfounded — from 4,000 to 5,000 people lined Central Avenue and the Broadway Entertainment District to watch the pint-sized parade.
For subsequent parades, the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission, which operates Visit Hot Springs, decided to go with celebrity grand marshals, ranging from George Wendt, who portrayed Norm on “Cheers,” to Mike Rowe, the star of “Dirty Jobs,” to the Bacon Brothers this year.
The parade has also added an official “parade starter,” a role fill ably by actor Gary Busey this year, and a contingent of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Next year, the parade will welcome its first African-American host, Alfonso Ribeiro, the host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” with champion wrestler Ric Flair serving as the official starter.
The celebrities are only part of the attraction of the parade, which each year features such zany delights as marching Irish Elvis impersonators; Irish belly dancers; Irish dogs; a fire truck as long as the parade route, dozens of floats and marching units; and bagpipers. And don’t forget The World’s Largest Leprechaun.