Cheech Marin, half of the legendary comedy team Cheech and Chong, will serve as the grand marshal of the First Ever 17th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Hot Springs on March 17, 2020.
“Cheech will fit in perfectly with the zany, fun-for-all atmosphere that defines the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” said Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs and one of the founders of the internationally famous 98-foot parade on Bridge Street, the World’s Shortest Street in Everyday Use.
Cheech is a paradox in the world of entertainment: he is an actor, director, writer, musician, art collector and humanitarian, as well as a cultural icon. Six of the Cheech & Chong albums went gold, four were nominated for Grammys, and “Los Cochinos” won the 1973 Grammy for Best Comedy Recording.
The critically acclaimed duo made a fluid transition to films, starring in eight features together. During a split with Chong, Cheech wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy “Born in East L.A.” He appeared in over 25 films, including his scene-stealing role in “Tin Cup,” and in eight films directed by Robert Rodriguez.
On television, Cheech was a sitcom regular before joining Don Johnson on the highly successful CBS drama “Nash Bridges” Through his popular Disney Pixar animation film roles (“Oliver & Company,” “The Lion King” and “Cars”) and as an author of children’s books such as Cheech the School Bus Driver, Cheech is also a favorite with kids and parents around the world.
In 2009, everyone’s favorite duo reunited after 25 years apart and they continue to perform together as their schedules allow.
Cheech is also recognized today as a preeminent Chicano art advocate. In the mid-1980s, he began developing what is now arguably the finest private collection of Chicano art. Much of it formed the core of his inaugural exhibition, “Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge,” which broke attendance records during its groundbreaking 15‐city US tour.
Following the success of “Chicano Visions,” 13 additional exhibitions drawn from the Cheech Marin Collection have toured more than 50 major art museums across the United States and in Europe under the direction of Melissa Richardson Banks.
Furthering his goal to introduce Chicano art to a wider audience, Marin has entered into a partnership with the City of Riverside and Riverside Art Museum to create the national Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture and Industry aka “The Cheech” (www.TheCheechCenter.org).
Slated to open in 2021, The Cheech will become the permanent home for his more than 700 works of Chicano art, including paintings, sculptures and photography; collectively, the most renowned Chicano art collection in the United States.
Renowned movie star Danny Trejo will serve as the official starter for the 2020 parade, and free public concerts will be held on the evenings of March 16 and March 17 at the parade stage at Bridge Street and Broadway. Blues Traveler will perform March 16 and Foghat will performs March 17 immediately after the parade, which begins at 6:30 p.m.
The parade, which began in 2003, annually attracts upwards of 30,000 people to the city’s historic downtown district. The parade is immensely popular, with its insanely zany collection of marchers, strutters, dancers, waddlers and floats that cover the 98-foot length of Bridge Street in the heart of downtown Hot Springs.
For more information, call Steve Arrison at 501-321-2027.
