An inflatable Irish pub debuted Friday in conjunction with the weekend of activities surrounding the First Ever 15th Annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade at 7:30 p.m. today.
O'Kelley's Pub stands to serve St. Patrick's Day revelers on the grassy area in front of the Hot Springs Convention Center on the corner of Malvern Avenue and Convention Boulevard. The site is adjacent to the 98-foot Bridge Street parade route.
"We like to add something new for each year's parade," Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said. "This year, we are adding a lot of new things, including the Budweiser Clydesdales, our first-ever high school marching band from Mountain Pine High School, plus O'Kelley's Pub. It's going to be great fun for everyone."
The 33-foot-by-20-foot pub was obtained from a company in Dublin, Ireland, Arrison said.
"When a group from Hot Springs visited Ireland last summer we had the chance to meet with the owner of the company. All of us on the trip agreed the pub would be a great add-on for our Hot Springs parade. The pub will also be made available for special events put on by groups that use the convention center the rest of the year."
The pub was named in honor of the late Dick Kelley, who was the grand marshal for the first World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade in 2003.
O'Kelley's Pub will accommodate 60 people, and will serve a variety of adult beverages to the public. It also features inflatable stained-glass windows, an inflatable Irish phone booth outside and an inflatable fireplace inside, Arrison said. There will be picnic table seating outside the pub.
This year's parade will also feature a dancing dinosaur from Mid-America Science Museum, a group of roller derby ladies, the crowd-favorite brigade of Irish Elvis impersonators, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and a marching pack of Irish dachshunds as well as 30 more floats, dancing groups, singers, fire trucks and other entries.
"We're packing 98 miles of solid fun into the 98-foot-long Bridge Street parade route this year," Arrison said. "It's going to be the best parade ever."
Other entries include the O'Hobbie Waddlers, a troupe of "senior tappers;" the Irish Bearden Sharpshooters, a troop of Civil War re-enactors; the Shamrock Shimmies, a group of Irish belly dancers minus their veils, and the Fun City Irish Chorus singers.
The parade grand marshal will be Joey Fatone of *NSYNC and the official starter will be Jon Heder of "Napoleon Dynamite" fame.
"We'll have the parade, rain or shine," Arrison said. "It's a St. Patrick's Day parade, and we don't ever reschedule it because of a little shower or two."
Immediately following the parade, there will be another free public concert at the same location by Morris Day and The Time.
Local on 03/17/2018