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World's wackiest St. Patrick's Day celebrations

FRANK GALLAGHER

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 7:13 AM

Updated Friday, March 12, 2010, 8:41 AM

One happy Irish clown

Photo gallery / The wonderful wackiness of St. Patrick's Day / Click here
Special section / Saint Patrick's Day! Stories, music, videos, recipes, more! / Click here
News update / Read the latest story on the world's smallest St. Pat's Parade! / Click here

The shortest parade, the worst, the longest, the coldest, the largest shamrock, and the snake race – all the information you need to make your St. Patrick's season fun.

The World's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade:

The shortest parade is always held on March 17th on historic Bridge Street in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas. Bridge Street became famous in the 1940s when “Ripley's Believe It or Not” designated it "The Shortest Street in the World." Having earned this distinction, the Hot Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau deemed Bridge Street the most logical location for this novel parade.

World's worst St. Patrick's parade

Chicago's South Side parade got cancelled this year but local bar owner Gerry O'Connell is having his own parade – around his bar “Irish Eyes.” O'Connell plans to pay homage to the currently defunct Chicago tradition.

"The South Side [parade] was cancelled," he said. "So what we're doing, is we're starting at the south side of the bar, and we're going to come around from the south side and parade the whole bar. And we're going to salute the South Side, because we'd like them to have their parade.

World's coldest St. Patrick's celebration:

Bering Sea Ice St. Patrick's Golf Classic: Third Saturday of March in Nome Alaska. Six -hole course played on the frozen Bering Sea with bright orange golf balls. Par is 41. Cash prizes for best scores. $50 entry fee includes a t-shirt, hat, golf balls, tees (old shotgun shells), snakebite remedies (small bottles of vodka) and a certificate of completion.

World's smallest St. Patrick's celebration:

Can you say one? That's right, this is a party for one, and it has occurred every St. Patrick's Day since 1993 in the town of Enterprise, Alabama.

A different person of Irish descent each year holds the Irish flag high above his/her head, carries a pot o' gold and recites limericks as he/she walks past the local courthouse and around the Bol Weevil Monument. (Yes, Enterprise is the only American city with a monument of a pest. Don't ask!)

Grand Marshals in absentia are nominated and selected on the basis of their written acceptance speech, plus their reasons for not being able to attend the parade. In other words, anyone can be a Grand Marshal.

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Posted by carrickfergus on Mar 10, 2010, 03:46 PM EST

I live in Boston!! We have a great parade in Southie!!! Happy St. Patricks Day to all!!!

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Posted by irisheyes72002 on Mar 10, 2010, 01:28 PM EST

You missed a very special place for St. Patrick's Day. Syracuse NY, second only to NYC's parade. Some thing no one else has is on Tipperary Hill "Here is the world-famous intersection in Syracuse, where the green light is located at the top. Yes, this is because this was an Irish neighborhood, and the local residents did not want a red light on top, because it represented the British to them." Check it out!

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Posted by dubslaine on Mar 10, 2010, 10:48 AM EST

I think you should look up the Montreal Parade which is the 2nd Largest after New York and it never missed a year since 1848 We get 4-500,000 on the street. WAKE UP WE ARE YOUR NEIGHBOURS.

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Posted by MaryWeber on Mar 10, 2010, 09:16 AM EST

Check out the St. Patrick's Day parade they have in Leadville, Colorado. They have it on Sept. 17 because it is too cold up there in the highest incorporatedtown in USA on March 17! The "parade" consists of a flatbed truck with a band (of sorts) and a car with the mayor. It is about one block long and ends up in the various saloons in this old gold-mining town which was settled by many Irish.

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Posted by iamceltic on Mar 09, 2010, 07:37 PM EST

I believe Mexico also has March 17 as a national holiday-in honor of the great San Patristas. These great U.S.Army Irish Catholics were tortured, murdered and humiliated under the terrible command of General Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American war of the 1840's- because they were CATHOLIC! They had a chance to be free and practice their Catholic faith in Catholic Mexico. Our U.S. goverment stole by war, one third of Mexico's land illegally. The Alamo and Texas was Mexico's as was much of the South west. See the great movie"One Man's Hero" a true story- based on historical facts if you are a 100% TRUE IRISH CATHOLIC!!!

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Posted by odubhlaoich on Mar 09, 2010, 11:49 AM EST

Seems you overlooked the only interstate St. Patrick's parade in the United States. The Quad Cities Twenty-Fifth Annual Grand Parade In Honor Of St. Patrick, March 13, 11:30 am, beginning in downtown Rock Island, ILLINOIS, then crosses the Mississippi River and proceeds through downtown Davenport, IOWA. Join with us. Mortas cine.

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