Chicago has its green-dyed river. Savannah has its impressive party. But one Southern city’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration has something no other place can claim. Designated as the “Shortest Street in the World” by Ripley’s Believe It or Not in the 1940s, 98-foot-long Bridge Street in Hot Springs, Arkansas, has been the home of the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 2003.
“It’s not your typical parade where there’s just a bunch of people walking,” says Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs. “You don’t see fifty or sixty Elvis impersonators all suited up for St. Patrick’s Day [anywhere else].”
all photos COURTESY OF VISIT HOT SPRINGS
In 2023, the parade will kick off its twenty-year anniversary at 6:30 with actor Chris McDonald (Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore) as official starter, followed by a lineup including the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Irish belly dancers, the oldest all-female Scottish drum and bugle corps in the United States, green Irish wolfhounds, plus a smattering of floats and marching units. This year’s grand marshal, country music star Justin Moore, will throw beads to onlookers, as past marshals like Bo Derek and Kevin Bacon have done. The night closes out with a free concert by The Molly Ringwalds. Saturday’s highlights include the Zero-K “race” at 5:00, which covers 299 feet and ends at O’Kelley’s, the world’s biggest inflatable Irish popup pub, and a nighttime performance by the Village People.
“Originally, people came for the celebrities aspect of it,” Arrison says. “But when they see the parade, they just want to come back.”
