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Who needs Boston when you’ve got Rhode Island’s ‘The Shortest St. Paddy’s Day Parade in the World’?Â
A record $40K was raised for R.I. and Mass. Food Banks at a tiny parade that featured a New England Patriot, ponies, puppies, potatoes, and an arm-wrestling Irish fairy tale.
Former New England Patriot Troy Brown marched with a football. A strong man arm-wrestled a toddler. A golfer in a jumpsuit putted down Main Street. Townspeople cheered as a remote-control car (complete with miniature figurines) became a tiny parade float whizzing by.
A Happy Madison production designer sauntered, ponies pranced, kilt-clad bag-pipers played with fiddlers, marchers handed out coloring books, yellow golf balls, golden foil-wrapped baked potatoes, chocolate coins, shiny green Mardis Gras beads. Boston Celtic band Scottish Fish played in a pickup truck.
The aroma of the crowd’s baked potatoes filled the air as dogs and dancers took to the street. Kids wearing green hats, some with leprechaun beards, shouted for more candy, bargained and traded among themselves by the stonewalls.
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… No, I wasn’t having that dream again.
It all happened Sunday afternoon at the fourth 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.
By 2 p.m. the 89-foot route along Main Street was jam packed with some 2,500 parade-viewers, organizers estimated — that’s more than half the population of the town itself. (Approximately 3,600.)
The parade — organized by the Kinnane Brothers film studio, their family and friends — kicks off (and, well, ends) near the studio. You might know them as Kevin James’ YouTube crew or from their work on the Netflix hit “Home Team.”
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On a near-60-degree day, the parade took about an hour. Each group of marchers was individually introduced by an emcee, a la Al Roker at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
There was also a 0K road race in the middle of the parade, the length of the route (OK, 0.027K). Another highlight: a smoke-breathing dragon made of balloons, longer the route itself, at 90 feet.
Each year, what this 89-foot parade route lacks in feet, it makes up for in a near fever-dream fit of spirit.
Each year, that spirit — and the amount raised for area food banks — about doubles.
And each year, their feud with Hot Spring, Arkansas over who truly has the world’s shortest parade rears its head.
Hot Springs hosts a 98-foot parade billed as “the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.” For the record, on Monday in Hot Springs: Flavor Flav is “official starter” (Flav, we’ll need you here next year), Valerie Bertinelli is Grand Marshall, Grand Funk Railroad is playing, and more.
The rivalry was put to rest in 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 witness the official measurement, ensuring that Little Compton’s parade was indeed 9 feet shorter than their own.
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“This has gotta be some sort of trick tape or something,” Todd joked as parade officials measured out the 89 feet. The reigning World Armwrestling League Super Heavyweight Champion has 23 world and 36 national titles under his belt.
“You guys are 9 feet shorter, I’m gonna give you that. But you’re the day before St. Patrick’s Day. So I mean there’s really no rivalry,” Todd kidded. “You’ve got a great thing going. We’ve got a good thing going … It looks like you guys have something pretty cool going on here. And a good cause.”
What happened next felt lifted out of an Irish fairy tale.
The strong-man, who had traveled to this land from far, far away, stood on Main Street and cried out for a challenger. The town sent forth their “longest Irish resident.”
“I can’t beat her. Who’s next?” the strong-man cried out, after failing to defeat Kitty Hayes.
He called for Troy Brown to come forward, but the football player sent his grandson in his stead.
When the tiny boy, lifted up to the table, defeated the arm-wrestling champion, the champ cried out with a grin. “It’s a set up! It’s all a set up!”
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After Todd vs. Toddler, in a touching moment, he handed a check to Brown: a $500 donation to the New England food banks.
“It’s from Hot Springs, Arkansas … Thanks everybody, thanks for having us out. This is awesome,” he said, adding with a sly smile that “this is the day before St. Patrick’s day. So we still got the shortest St. Patrick’s Day!”
Money raised from an after-party — live music, corned beef and cabbage dinner — went to help food banks in Little Compton and Tiverton, R.I., and Westport and Fall River, organizer Charles “Chuck” Kinnane said before the event.
Each year, they’ve doubled the amount raised. In 2023 they raised $10K. In 2024 they raised $20K. This year, they raised some $40,000, Kinnane said Sunday night.
As evidenced by its growth in four years, it’s become a favorite on the Little Compton community events calendar — the only official town event that brings this many people to the village of Adamsville.
It’s been remarkable to witness first-hand, covering the parade. A town literally springs to technicolor life. (OK, mostly green.) More and more gather. Last year, they upped their game with Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell as guest of honor. It’s now an official event of Little Compton’s 350th Anniversary Year-Long Celebration.
Not bad for something that started as a joke.
“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. “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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While the fun winds down in Little Compton, for the Todds, Monday is Round Two.
“This is like our dress rehearsal for the real show,” joked Rebecca Todd. The couple said they’d fly home to make the Hot Spring parade on March 17.
“I love what you guys are doing here,” Monster Michael Todd added with a smile. “We’re happy to be here today. Just happy to be involved.”
Check out more photos by Lauren Daley:
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer and regular Boston.com contributor. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
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