Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, has cheekily bragged for years that it never rains on St. Patrick's Day in the Spa City, but the heavy thunderstorms that moved through the area Thursday night might beg to disagree.
Fortunately for Arrison and the rest of the parade committee that organized this year's First Ever 13th Annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade on Bridge Street in downtown Hot Springs, the heavy stuff didn't move through the area until after the parade was mostly done.
The rain did, however, shorten the post-parade concert by actor Kevin Bacon and his brother, Michael, collectively billed as the Bacon Brothers Band. As one reporter noted, after they were finishing up their shortened set with "Footloose," the theme song to one of Kevin Bacon's iconic movies, the rain let up.
"The weather was great. The Bacon Brothers had to cut their set short; they got the majority of what they were going to do in," Arrison said. "So really, the weather wasn't a factor."
It was not the first rainout for a concert following the parade. Mini Kiss, a Kiss tribute band, was rained-out one year after only one song.
"But the Bacon Brothers got in quite a few songs," Arrison said.
Arrison said he had dinner Thursday night with Academy Award-nominated actor Gary Busey, who was the official parade starter. "Gary had a great time," he said. "The Bacons this morning at the airport were highly complimentary. They had a great time."
Overall, Arrison said the crowd seemed larger compared to last year's parade, at least according to Don Gooch, who served as the Shamrock King at the 12th edition of the World's Shortest Parade.
Along with the crowd, Arrison said Friday that the media attention handed to the parade also grew.
The website IrishCentral included Hot Springs on its feature of "How towns and cities around the world will celebrate St. Patrick's Day," on Wednesday; ABC Radio broadcast a piece on St. Patrick's Day "By the Numbers," quoting figures from the website WalletHub, which includes "98 Feet: route of the Hot Springs, Arkansas' St. Patrick's Day Parade -- The World's Shortest;" and Arrison gave an interview to a Chicago-based national radio show.
"Everything we've gotten because of the parade is just because of its reputation," Arrison said. "I was on twice with a national radio show ... we were mentioned in all sorts of articles and newspapers."
The "hook" to the publicity, particularly among national media, is the "world's shortest parade" angle.
"We're still making lists with Boston, and New York, and Chicago, and Montserrat, even. That's the 'hook' that makes it unique. There's a lot of St. Patrick's Day celebrations, but ours is the world's shortest and it's held on St. Patrick's Day. So we tend to get a lot more attention, because we do it on St. Patrick's Day and because we're short," Arrison said.
"It's a community event that we welcome a lot of visitors to," he said. "It really spreads the name of Hot Springs in areas that we would never advertise in, or couldn't afford to advertise in."
Looking forward to next year, Arrison said the fact the parade will be held on a Friday will create a challenge, "because the crowds are always going to be bigger on a Friday or a Saturday."
Local on 03/19/2016