The Big Idaho® Potato Truck will haul the four-ton Big Idaho® Potato to Hot Springs, Arkansas for March 17

The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Hot Springs, Arkansas will welcome back the fan-favorite Big Idaho Potato Truck and its four-ton Big Idaho Potato haul this year on March 17 after its successful 2019 debut.

Read More: This St. Patrick's Day parade will feature a gigantic potato

Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs and one of the founders of the city’s popular St. Patrick’s Day parade, said of the Big Idaho Potato’s debut last year: “It was a tight squeeze getting the tremendous tuber and its trailer to make the 90-degree turn off Central Avenue onto 98-foot-long Bridge Street, but the crew was able to ‘git ‘er done’ and the crowd just loved it.

“I’ve heard from people all year long wanting to know if the potato was coming back. Well, it is, and we can’t wait to enjoy it again.”

The four-ton Big Idaho® Potato is the equivalent of 21,562 Idaho® potatoes, according to its sponsors. A real titanic tuber of that size would take 7,000 years to grow, they say. It would take two years in a hot oven to bake the Brobdingnagian baker and would make 20,217 servings of mashed potatoes or 970,380 french fries. It is 802 times heavier than the largest potato that was ever grown, which tipped the scales at 11 pounds.

The “prodigious pomme de terre” was commissioned by the Idaho Potato Commission nine years ago and traveled 35,350 miles last year promoting Idaho® potatoes. Through its charitable program A Big Helping, the tour also donated $12,500 to 25 local nonprofits, including one in Hot Springs.

In 2019, at the culmination of the Big Idaho Potato Truck’s eighth annual cross-country tour, President and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission Frank Muir said: “The Big Idaho® Potato Truck was only supposed to be on the road for one year to celebrate the Idaho Potato Commission’s 75th anniversary. Here we are eight years later and folks are scheduling the Truck two years out.

“By definition we have reached pop culture status -- a product or brand that has mass accessibility and appeal. Last fall the popular television show American Idol invited us to participate in their auditions in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. It doesn’t get much bigger than that!"

In addition to the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Hot Springs, AR last year, the potato also visited the Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Georgia and Dublin Irish Festival in Dublin, Ohio.

🥔 Fun facts: This gargantuan spud is the equivalent of 21,562 Idaho potatoes. That’s 20,217 servings of mashed potatoes or 960,380 French fries. That’s one seriously huge tater! 🤯 The world-famous four-ton Big Idaho® Potato and its accompanying truck and trailer will almost fill the length of Bridge Street during the First Ever 16th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17th. You won’t want to peel your eyes away from all its tuber glory! #shorteststpats #bigidahopotato #seriouslybigspud Big Idaho Potato Tour

Publiée par World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade sur Samedi 29 décembre 2018

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The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Hot Springs, Arkansas

On March 17, 2020, Hot Springs, Arkansas will proudly host its 17th annual First Ever World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Cheech Marin has already been announced as the celebrity grand marshal, and Danny (Machete) Trejo is set to be the official starter. Appearances from Fredbird, the official mascot of the St. Louis Cardinals, and characters from television’s “PAW Patrol,” accompanied by FLW fishing legend Charlie Evans, are also on the schedule.

On March 16, Blues Traveler will be performing a special pre-parade concert, and on March 17, right after the parade, Foghat is set to perform.

The parade, which began in 2003, annually attracts crowds of upwards of 30,000 people to watch an insanely zany collection of Irish Elvis impersonators, green Irish wolfhounds, marching units such as Paddy O’Furniture, Irish belly dancers, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, as well as other unique units cover the 98-foot length of Bridge Street, the World’s Shortest Street in Everyday Use.

You can learn more about the First Ever 17th Annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade on its websiteFacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

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Are you going to the 2020 World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade? Have you ever encountered the World's Biggest Potato? Let us know in the comments!