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The ‘World’s Shortest St. Paddy’s Day Parade’ is still New England’s nuttiest St. Pat’s fever dream
But is it really the shortest? The answer may soon be coming to a documentary near you.
“World’s Shortest St. Paddy’s Day Parade,” Little Compton, Rhode Island, March 15, 2026.
A woman dressed as a baked potato. A man dressed as fish. A golf putting contest. A bagpiper. New England Patriot Hall of Famer Matt Light marching with a coffee mug.
A tractor pulling a dinosaur. A confetti burst of icy snow. A fifer, a fiddler, a town crier. A double-decker bus, a Woody station wagon carrying surf boards, St. Patrick, miniature ponies, tiny dogs, floating bubbles.
… No, I wasn’t having that dream again.
It’s real, I tell ya, and it all happened on Sunday afternoon at the fifth annual “World’s Shortest St. Paddy’s Day Parade” in the tiny village of Adamsville in the tiny town of Little Compton in the tiny state of Rhode Island.
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The 89-foot fever dream stepped off at 3 p.m. and was over in a whirlwind by 3:40 p.m. It was a gray and brisk Ides of March, with the “feels like” temp hovering at 34 degrees — but that didn’t stop the maddening crowds from maddening on Main Street in Adamsville.
The short route was jam packed with some 2,000 people, organizers estimated — more than half the population of Little Compton. (Approximately 3,600.)
After an official measurement of 89 feet was marked and called, and an official ribbon was cut to mark the starting line, the marchers were off. Like previous years, each group was announced individually by an MC, similar to Al Roker announcing marchers at a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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The parade itself was a 40 minute riot of green, costumes, music — when a double-decker bus drove by, The Who’s “Magic Bus” played on the loudspeakers, for example. Marchers handed out baked potatoes, chocolates, books, candies, trinkets. One long float — a train of green balloons— sprayed snow like confetti. Other marchers blew bubbles. Kids in the crowd reached out for tossed treats, to pop bubbles, to catch snow.
The parade — co-founded by the brothers of Kinnane Brothers film studio, their family and friends — started as a joke. The route starts — and well, ends — near their studio.
You might know the filmmakers — seven brothers and brother-in-law —as the viral secret weapons behind Kevin James’s YouTube, from their Netflix hit “Home Team,” or their rom-com feature film starring Kevin James,“Solo Mio,” in theaters now.
“My cousins and brothers were just joking: ‘How come we don’t have a St. Patrick’s Day parade here in the village of Adamsville?’ And the joke was: It would be the shortest one in the world,” organizer Charles “Chuck” Kinnane told Boston.com last year. “So we did it [in 2022] for fun, as a fundraiser for the food bank, and everybody loved it so much that it’s become something that we all look forward to: that bright light at the end of the tunnel of winter.”
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Before the parade this year, Kinnane told Boston.com, “It started as a joke, so the fact that the joke has lasted five years is even funnier. We’re official now. We have a board and everything.”
He credited a list of local helpers, organizers and business sponsors. The short march is now an official event of Little Compton’s 350th Anniversary Year-Long Celebration.
But is it officially the Shortest St. Paddy’s Day Parade in the world?
That’s up for debate — a debate that may soon head to the big screen.
Hot Springs, Arkansas hosts a 98-foot parade billed as “the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.” Each year, the feud with Hot Springs over who really has the world’s shortest parade rears its head.
In fact, last year, we saw a touching gesture of goodwill as arm-wrestling champion “Monster” Michael Todd (“King” of the Hot Springs parade last year) and his wife Rebecca Todd flew out to Rhode Island to eye-witness the official measurement, ensuring that Adamsville’s parade was indeed 9 feet shorter than their own. Todd also laughed with the crowd, arm-wrestled locals, and made a donation to the Rhody parade’s foodbank fund on behalf of Hot Springs.
“There’s a documentary being produced by filmmakers in Arkansas, and the main story is the battle between Hot Springs and Rhode Island,” Kinnane told Boston.com before the parade. “We’re going to film and send them some footage [to filmmaker Michael Ferrara]. The plan is to do a Rhode Island premiere of the movie next year.”
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Get the green popcorn ready.
Meanwhile, this year, ticket sales for the post-parade corned beef and cabbage dinner went to help area food banks in Little Compton and Tiverton, R.I., and Westport and Fall River. They raised more than $10K, Kinnane said Monday.
The growth and excitement this event generates in a small town has been remarkable to witness, covering the parade in the last half decade.
By 2024, Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell was the guest of honor. In 2025, former New England Patriot Troy Brown marched with a football. This year, the guest of honor was New England Patriot Hall of Famer Matt Light, who marched with a light in his eyes and a pep in his step, coffee mug in hand.
“We’ve got the best community ever,” Kinnane said. “It’s the most fun of the year.”
Check out more photos by Lauren Daley:
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
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