The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will return next year for the First Ever 16th Annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade, Hot Springs officials said Tuesday.
"Ever since the cheerleaders were featured in the 2013 parade they have been considered part of the parade 'family,'" Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said in a news release.
"The crowd loves them, and they love being a part of our zany little celebration. It would be hard to imagine the parade without the cheerleaders firing up the spectators," Arrison said.
The 2019 parade will feature The Karate Kid's Ralph Macchio as the celebrity grand marshal; and Stephen "tWitch" Boss, So You Think You Can Dance star, as the official parade starter.
The World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade has brought worldwide attention to Hot Springs and helped expand the city's reputation as a city that knows how to have fun, the release said.
Former cheerleader Jacie Scott, who served as the official announcer for the First Ever 14th Annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade, attended the parade as her first major appearance in her rookie season for the cheerleaders. She told the newspaper in 2017 that "The people here were so welcoming, everyone took care of us and it became, really among the cheerleaders, the appearance everyone wanted to go to each year."