Peace in the streets: Arkansas and RI settle world's shortest St. Patrick's parade battle

Jack Perry, Providence Journal
Updated ·3 min read

A truce has been reached between the Little Compton village of Adamsville and Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the big battle over the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade.

Organizers of the respective parades say they've become great friends since the war of words broke out earlier this month, but they couldn't resist taking some shots in announcing the peace agreement.

Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, reminded Chuck Kinnane, founder of The World's Shortest St. Paddy's Day Parade in Adamsville, that The World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade in Hot Springs has been around longer and draws bigger crowds.

"The World's Shortest St. Paddy's Day Parade" in the Little Compton village of Adamsville is scheduled for 3 p.m. on March 17.
"The World's Shortest St. Paddy's Day Parade" in the Little Compton village of Adamsville is scheduled for 3 p.m. on March 17.

“It turns out that Chuck Kinnane is such a great guy, we here in Hot Springs have invited him and some of his fellow parade organizers to come down here and see for themselves what their own parade might turn into some day,” Arrison said.

Kinnane, a director in Kinnane Brothers independent film company, responded, “We are happy to make peace for the sake of the 30,000 people headed to Hot Springs for what they believe is the world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.”

Pint-sized parade predicament: Arkansas vs. RI bicker about St. Patrick's Day procession

The armistice was achieved without Arkansas following through on its threat to "do whatever it takes to retain our crown" – even, Arrison said, if that means shortening the parade, marching in place or marching backward.

The fight started when organizers of the 21-year-old Hot Springs parade learned through an article on the internet that Kinnane and his fellow organizers were calling their event, first held in 2022, "The World's Shortest St. Paddy's Day Parade."

In his opening salvo, which he calls "a gentle reminder," Arrison also took a shot at Rhode Island's harsh March weather and the title of the Adamsville parade. "We don’t celebrate the Irish’s saint’s nickname day – we celebrate the real deal," he wrote.

Scottish Fish, a Boston-based Celtic quartet, will return to "The World's Shortest St. Paddy's Day Parade" in Adamsville this year, playing at the post-parade fundraiser. The event will raise funds for food banks in Little Compton, Tiverton, Westport and Fall River.
Scottish Fish, a Boston-based Celtic quartet, will return to "The World's Shortest St. Paddy's Day Parade" in Adamsville this year, playing at the post-parade fundraiser. The event will raise funds for food banks in Little Compton, Tiverton, Westport and Fall River.

He claimed honors for the Arkansas parade despite acknowledging its participants march farther than the Adamsville event, 98 feet compared with 89 feet.

Responding to the claims from Arkansas, Padraic Manning, a co-grand marshal for the inaugural Adamsville parade, said: “It’s a classic bully situation – just a longer parade picking on a shorter one."

Ultimately, the back-and-forth drew a lot of attention to both parades. The Adamsville parade, scheduled for 3 p.m. March 17, raises funds for food banks in Little Compton, Tiverton, Westport and Fall River. It drew about 1,000 spectators last year. Kinnane expects more this year.

“Soon enough, Chuck and I discovered that our little 'dispute' had proved to be a publicity bonanza for both towns,” Arrison said, “and we quickly became long-distance friends.”

In the end, they're letting a couple of words settle their war of words.

“We agreed that Adamsville does, in fact, have The World’s Shortest St. Paddy’s Day Parade and that Hot Springs does, in fact, have the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” Arrison said. “That settles the ‘dispute.’”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Shortest St. Patrick's day parade dispute ends with truce