An intermittent rain didn't dampen the spirits of parade-goers at Friday's First Ever 14th Annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade, which produced one of the memorable moments in the parade's history: Alfonso Ribeiro performing his signature dance, "the Carlton."
Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said the moment was unscripted and totally Ribeiro's decision -- although parade organizers may have helped his decision along by playing a portion of Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual."
Ribeiro, one of the winners of "Dancing With the Stars" and the host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," played the character of cousin Carlton Banks opposite Will Smith in "Fresh Prince" during the 1990s. His impromptu dance to the hit song brought him nationwide fame.
"It was a busy weekend in the town," Arrison said, adding that he is still compiling attendance figures for the various events held in Hot Springs this weekend, including the Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival.
"We've just always been very fortunate that the weather ... it always clears, and we get our parade in. It was sort of misty, but it didn't seem to bother the crowd at all. ... We got the whole parade in, and the concert in ... it didn't seem to dampen anybody's spirits," he said.
In 2012, a local government watchdog group criticized Arrison for estimating the crowd at the St. Patrick's Day parade at more than 30,000, disputing it with a study that estimated the crowd size at 11,576.
"God forbid I get into crowd estimates or anything, but it sure seemed like it swelled as soon as the rain stopped, and I thought we had a crowd to equal what we've always had," Arrison said.
"Without a doubt, I think it was the largest crowd we've ever had for the event, and by our conservative estimate, we're putting it at 1.5 million," he added, laughing.
"It was a late-arriving crowd, but that was probably due to the weather, or they were coming from the races," Arrison said.
Oaklawn's attendance was listed as 9,500 on Friday. On Saturday, which featured the running of the Rebel Stakes, Oaklawn's attendance was given as 36,000.
"It was a bang-up weekend. ... I think it was just a combination of things. Spring break starting on Friday ... I ran into a lot of people who just came for the parade, and then I ran into a lot of people who came for the horse races and the parade. I think it was a great combination for families and a good excuse for people to come to Hot Springs," Arrison said.
Without a doubt, the high point of the parade was Ribeiro performing "the Carlton," which will go down as one of the most memorable moments in the parade's history, he said.
"I thought it was one of those moments that I think excited the crowd and excited everyone who was there. I think Ric Flair (the parade starter) did a great job. Uncle Kracker was awesome for the free concert. Everything worked well; every year it grows and grows, which creates more things that we have to have solutions for," he said.
Additional sound systems were added this year, and more sound will be added next year down Central and Malvern avenues.
Looking ahead to the 15th version of the parade on March 17, 2018, Arrison has already sent out an email to the city staff, the Hot Springs Police Department and members of the parade committee looking for ideas how to handle the "perfect storm" approaching of having the Rebel Stakes and the parade on the same Saturday.
"This is something we need to get nailed down; how both of them could coexist on the same day, because both events are important, both events draw (large crowds)," he said.
One possibility is to move the time of the parade either earlier in the day, which Arrison does not favor because of the post-parade concert, or later in the evening.
Either way, traffic will be affected, because holding the parade means closing Central Avenue around the parade route on Bridge street for about an hour and a half.
"We close it at the last minute," Arrison said, and even though there are alternative routes available, "we're not trying to inconvenience any more people than we have to. So that's something we're going to have to look at."
Local on 03/21/2017