HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Arkansas — 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 Special Events Manager Alexis Hampo said Friday.
“This is no joke,” VHS CEO Steve Arrison said. “Bridge Street will become a 98-foot green testament to our wonderful little parade, which focused worldwide attention on Hot Springs this year when The Associated Press created a feature article that went worldwide in advance of the parade. That article was published in Turkey, Japan, Australia, Thailand and a bunch of other locations in addition to all over the United States.”
VHS Marketing Director Bill Solleder said the World’s Shortest Street in Everyday Use, according to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, will be painted a “beautiful shade of green” the evening of Tuesday, April 29.
The project, paid for by Visit Hot Springs, will be carried out with the cooperation of the City of Hot Springs, Hampo said.
“The City has been great to work with on this project,” she said, “and they’ve supported our vision, which I’m really grateful for.
“The painting will be done by the Time Striping, Inc., company. The material will be the same as that used to paint the Whittington bike lanes and is expected to last 10 to 15 years.”
“I’m so excited about this project,” Hampo said. “I think it’s going to be a great way to show off and celebrate Bridge Street and the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade® year ’round. Plus it will add a fun pop of color to Historic Downtown Hot Springs.”
“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 and get some magic added to their own World’s Shortest St. Paddy’s Day Parade, which actually took place the day before St. Patrick’s Day this year.”
“Yeah,” Solleder added, “but we’re going to send the people in Adamsville, Rhode Island, a spray-can of some sort-of-green paint so they can at least paint their finish line sort of green.”
“The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade® continues to grow in energy and attendance,” Hampo said, “and having Bridge Street green all year is really going to supercharge the parades for years to come.
“I imagine visitors will see the street and wonder, ‘Why is that street green?’ When they find out it’s to honor The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade®, they’ll start making plans then to come back to Hot Springs to see the event for themselves.”
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 and celebrity grand marshals and celebrity parade starters.
For more information call Steve Arrison at 501-321-2027.