On St. Patrick's Day, the big question in Hot Springs won't be "Is everyone wearing their green?" but "Will the ginormous potato make it around the curve?"
Regular attendees at the World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade have come to expect the wild, the wacky and the unpredictable. This year, the 16th, will be no exception.
World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade
6:30 p.m. Sunday, Bridge Street, downtown Hot Springs
Admission: free
The World's Largest Potato, which is the equivalent of 21,562 Idaho potatoes and would make about 970,380 french fries, arrives on a 72-foot trailer that may have some difficulty making it to 98-foot Bridge Street.
"We're on pins and needles here," says Steve Arrison, chief executive officer of the Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion Commission. "We're not going to know until it's in the parade if the largest potato can make the turn on the world's shortest street."
In addition to the spud-related suspense, attendees can expect a weekend full of Irish fun in downtown Hot Springs.
It all starts Friday when O'Kelley's Pop Up Pub, which Arrison says is the largest Irish pop-up pub in the world, opens at 5 p.m. and the Zero K race begins promptly at 6. The brand-new event is already popular, selling out well in advance.
Arrison predicts, "We'll have over 1,000 next year."
O'Kelley's is back starting at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
And there's free music every day with local bands Friday and Saturday nights and well-known headliners Smash Mouth at 8 p.m. Saturday.
It's on Sunday that things get really lively with the Blarney Stone Kissing Contest, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and the official measuring of the parade route before the main event itself.
Last year, when St. Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday, the parade started an hour later in deference to Oaklawn. This year, they're back to the regular 6:30 p.m. start time and Stephen "tWitch" Boss from The Ellen DeGeneres Show starts the parade and Ralph Macchio from The Karate Kid is this year's celebrity grand marshal. In his honor, this year's T-shirt slogan is "Parade on. Parade off."
In addition to the huge potato, this year's parade includes Irish wolfhounds, the Irish Order of the Elvi and a float that just participated in a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade.
"It's not just your typical parade," Arrison says. "Every entry is unique and different."
As small as Bridge Street is, there's not a lot of space for spectators so Arrison encourages people to get there early. But if there's no room, people can line up along Central and Malvern avenues, where the parade enters and exits Bridge Street, for good viewing.
It all ends with a Three Dog Night performance at 8 p.m.
All of this family-friendly fun happens rain or shine and Arrison encourages everyone to jump in: "You've got to do it at least once. If you come once, we know we're going to get you back."
A longer parade happens a day earlier. The Irish Cultural Society of Arkansas presents its 20th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at Sixth and Main streets in North Little Rock. The parade, featuring floats, dancers and other festive participants, makes its way through Argenta, over the river, and ends at Third and Cumberland streets in Little Rock. Dancing at the Crossroads follows the parade. Visit irisharkansas.org.
Weekend on 03/14/2019