Short parade draws big attention to Spa City

Hot Springs continues to garner publicity around the country for its short little St. Patrick's Day Parade, with celebrity grand marshals, official starters, leprechauns, cheerleaders and International Order of the Irish Elvi.

Throw in Paddy O'Furniture and the Irish Sitters, and the First Ever 13th Annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade is an event not to be missed, organizers say.

This year's spectacle will feature actor Kevin Bacon and his brother, Michael, as celebrity grand marshals, and Gary Busey will be the official parade starter. Lauren Oliver, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, who "fell in love with Hot Springs" during her previous trips to participate in the parade, will return this year as the new emcee-announcer for the event.

"When given the opportunity to emcee the greatest event of the year, how could I say no," Oliver said in a news release.

Jacie Scott, a current Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who is making her fourth appearance in the Spa City, will bring seven other cheerleaders with her this year to warm up the crowd before the festivities begin.

The parade begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on Bridge Street, made famous by Ripley's Believe It Or Not as the world's shortest street in everyday use.

St. Patrick's Day activities begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday with a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of Irish-American war hero John King at Calvary Cemetery.

Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. Thursday with the Blarney Stone Kissing Contest in front of the Hot Springs Convention Center, followed by the introduction of special guests at 5:30 p.m. on Bridge Street. The official measurement of the parade route will take place at 6:25 p.m. The Bacon Brothers Band will give a free post-parade concert at 7:30 p.m.

In addition to the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, the Texas Tortilla Queens will be among the 40-plus entries in this year's parade, which will include Irish bagpipers, jockeys from Oaklawn Park, the world's shortest car, dogs from the Arkansas Department of Correction's Paws in Prison program and the Fun City Chorus singing traditional Irish tunes.

Other parade entrants include the following:

• Hot Springs Fire Department.

• Lyon College Pipe Band.

• Taco Mama.

• Elite Family Martial Arts.

• 1st USS Berdan Civil War Re-enactors.

• Shamrock King and Queen.

• Extension Homemakers Council.

• Bucket List Bunnies.

• Arkansas Paparazzi.

• Fat Bottomed Girl's Cupcake Shoppe.

• Boondocks Pool Hall.

• Garvan Woodland Gardens.

• Herron Agency.

• Wednesday Night Poetry.

• Magic Springs Water and Theme Park.

• McDonalds.

• Central Auto Sales/Hurst Construction.Diva/Hair Salon.

• Motility MLK Prosthetics and Orthotics and YMCA.

• Fat Jacks Restaurant and Bar.

• STARTEK.

• Mattress Overstock.

Local on 03/13/2016

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