The World’s Biggest Leprechaun (right) is joined by friends at the start of the 2024 parade. — Courtesy Visit Hot Springs
The site of The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade® will turn green — permanently.
“We’re going to paint the 98-foot length of Bridge Street a permanent shade of green so that nobody — especially those poseurs in other cities who always make some bogus claim about their little shenanigans every March — will forget where the one-and-only official World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade® actually takes place,” Visit Hot Springs (VHS) Special Events Manager Alexis Hampo said Friday.
The project, paid for by Visit Hot Springs, will be carried out with the cooperation of the City of Hot Springs. The material will be the same as that used to paint the Whittington bike lanes and is expected to last 10 to 15 years.”
“We’re adding a special secret ingredient to the paint that will give it a magical quality,” Arrison said. “We can’t reveal the magic ingredient because our friendly rivals in Rhode Island might try to jump on our idea.”
Arrison said plans are already underway for the 23rd edition of the parade, which annually draws 30,000 fans into downtown Hot Springs to see a lineup of zany floats, marchers, marching bands, a troupe of Irish Elvis impersonators, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, celebrity grand marshals, and celebrity parade starters.
For more information, call Steve Arrison at 501-321-2027.
