Rhode Island and Arkansas Engage in Friendly Feud Over World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade

In the world of St. Patrick's Day celebrations, size doesn't always matter.

In fact, the smaller, the better—at least according to Chuck Kinnane, the founder of the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade in Adamsville, Rhode Island. But when Hot Springs, Arkansas, caught wind of the Rhode Island parade, a friendly feud began to brew.

The Adamsville parade, organized by moviemaker Chuck Kinnane and the Kinnane Brothers, started as a family joke. "We joked that it would be the shortest in the world if we did it because it's so the village is so small," Kinnane said, "We heard about the Hot Springs one and it was at 98 ft. So we said, you know what? We're going to beat it. We're going to do 89 ft. We beat the record and this will be our third year putting together this parade."

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The Hot Springs parade, organized by Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, has been around for 21 years and measures 98 feet long. Arrison took a playful jab at Adamsville in an article earlier last month, suggesting that nobody wants to attend a freezing cold parade in New England.

"I gotta give Steve credit because he really put us on the map," Kinnane said. "All of a sudden, we're getting calls from national news sources that were asking us about the feud."

Hot Springs has brought out the big guns for their parade, including Emmett Smith as the master of ceremonies and a lot of Dallas Cowboys connections. However, Adamsville has secured the great Celtics legend, Cedric Maxwell A.K.A. "Cornbread Maxwell", alongside a  band from Ireland called Green Road and another group, Scottish Fish, based in Boston.

READ MORE: Green Beer for Saint Patrick's Day? Some Say Yay and Some Say Nay

The world's shortest parade is scheduled for Saint Patrick's Day, Sunday, March 17th, at 3:00 PM in Adamsville, Rhode Island. Due to limited space, attendees are encouraged to carpool. The event is a fundraiser for local food banks around the greater Adamsville area (Westport, Tiverton, etc.), and families are welcome to attend.

Today, March 1st, is the last day to sign up to march in the parade. Interested participants can sign up at Paddyparade.com. The event is sponsored by Humphrey's Building Supply, among others.

When asked if Fun 107 could bring the radio van into the mix this year, Kinnane was happy to oblige.

"Absolutely. We would love that and we thank you," Kinnane replied, "You guys have been huge supporters of us from the beginning. So we're so grateful for that."

In other news, the Kinnane brothers are also working on a couple of movies, including a holiday film.

"We wanna get everybody in it. So if you guys, you know, you guys want to come and make a cameo in the movie, we’d love to have you," Kinnane said.

Lastly, Kinnane gave a shout-out to his mother, Sue Kinnane, who he says worked hard on the parade and without whom it would never have happened.