After 32 years of walking a mere 66 feet, the people of Blue Springs may be asking why there isn’t a bigger parade to mark the arrival of St. Patrick’s Day.
“I’ve been saying it for 32 years,” Pat Meyer, one of the official “paraders” and organizers for the event, said. “I’d like someone to create a big parade in Blue Springs.”
First – there already is a big parade in the city.
And second – why?
When people gather up at the Historic Soda Fountain on Main Street at 8 a.m. Tuesday, they will be participating in what has become a signature event for the city. It’s billed as the shortest and smallest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the world.
From the soda shop and across the street to the newly reopened “The Keg,” paraders will whoop, holler, sip and socialize their way – once again – into the history books. People will first gather at the soda shop, eat doughnuts, drink coffee and spoon up the green ice cream floats.
But there are other such parades that claim to be the shortest and smallest. In Hot Springs, Ark., the residents participate in what is considered the shortest of the St. Patrick’s Day parades. It is held on historic Bridge Street, which became famous in the 1940s when Ripley’s Believe It or Not designated it The Shortest Street in the World.
Also, Boulder, Colo., claims to have the shortest parade, its celebratory route occurring on less than a single city block.
So convinced of the parade’s special significance, organizers are still waiting for the ultimate and most prestigious recognition: a call from the Guinness Book of World Records.
But for those who gather in Blue Springs, there is only this parade, held each March 17 at 9 a.m. on Main Street. Ending at “The Keg,” reopened last year by Tom and Charlene Cooper (Tom’s parents owned the business years ago), the event is a truly unique event.
“People have a lot of fun,” Meyer said, adding that there may be some traditional Irish food at the end of the trek.
This year’s honorary grand marshal will be Roger Fulton, an active community and church member. He’ll be joined by Meyer, Jim Wallace and Bill Whitley, all of whom are considered official “paraders.”
As for any larger Blue Springs parade, forget about it.
“No, no, that’s what separates us,” Mayor Carson Ross said. “It gives us an identity that we’re proud of.”
The city already has a big parade, Ross said: The Fall Fun Fest Parade, billed as the largest in Eastern Jackson County.
“We have that one, and that’s a pretty large event for us.”
