Adamsville turns green Sunday afternoon, March 17, when the village hosts its third annual “World’s Shortest St. Paddy’s Day parade.” Afterwards, there will be corned beef and cabbage for 400 (it’s sold out), plenty of Guinness, and a performance by one of Ireland’s hottest acoustic bands.

At only 89 feet, the parade is indeed short — so short, in fact, that a rivalry has formed between Adamsville and Hot Springs, Arkansas, which also claims title to the world’s shortest St. Patricks’ Day parade (sadly for Hot Springs, theirs is one foot longer).

On Friday, one of the founders of the Adamsville parade, Chuck Kinnane, took a few minutes out to talk about the parade, the rivalry and  the national phenomenon it has become, and how it’s strengthened the bonds of community in the tiny village on the Westport/Little Compton line.

NOTE: Before we get to it, Kinnane asks that those who plan to attend Sunday should carpool whenever possible, as Adamsville can only support so many parked cars.

Nearly 1,000 people attended last year’s parade and it’s expected to be bigger this year. Did you ever see this coming?

“No! We always assumed the parade would remain sleepy and small. It started as a joke, my cousins and brothers started it as a fun thing, and we though’t we’d raise money for the (Little Compton) food bank. But it was really the parade organizer Steve (Arrison) from Hot Springs calling us out that just ramped everything up. I credit him for picking a fight with us, it led to a lot of great things.”

So just to set the record straight. Whose is shorter?

Who's the shortest? Well, we are.

What’s different this year?

The support, definitely. We have a lot more sponsors. Last year we called around asking people to be sponsors ... this year we didn’t make a single call. Everybody heard about it and jumped on board. There’s been a huge response from the community and the business owners.”

The parade always seems like such a fun community event. What’s become your favorite part?

“Just that — it’s gotta be the community. There’s nothing better than that. And I think for me, we need community and we need things like this in our lives. It’s a fun, stupid way to bring people together.”

What are you looking forward to this year?

“Cedric Maxwell (former Boston Celtic) is coming! We got connected with someone who knew him, and we reached out and he was all about it. So he’s coming the day of and we’re going to have a Celtic great marching in the parade, which is fitting.”

What about the band that will play after the parade?

Green Road, they’re huge in Ireland. They’re coming in the day before. They’re excited! We’ll be the last stop on their US tour. I came across one of their live videos online, we looked at it and we’re like, ‘Wow, these guys would blow the roof off the place.’ So we took a shot in the dark. We thought there was no way we could get them, but we sent their manager a message. He jumped on Zoom with us immediately, late at night in Ireland. He loved the idea and said ‘We’re in.’”

Who are this year’s Grand Marshals?

“Diane and David MacGregor. They are beloved educators in our town, I think for over 35 years. I had them in school and a lot of the folks who are helping out with the parade had them as well. They’re just amazing, the greatest people and they mean so much to the town and to so many people, that we wanted to honor them. We’re grateful that they said ‘Yes’ to our crazy parade.”

You said the parade started as a joke, but also as a way to benefit the pantry. How’s that been?

“The first year we raised $5,000, which was the single largest check they said they’d ever received. We were able to double that last year and then our grand marshal last year said he believes this year we’ll be able to double it again. So that’s our goal. We’re going to spread (proceeds) around. There’s a pantry in Westport, the one in Little Compton, Tiverton, one in Fall River.”

How many corned beef and cabbage dinners are planned for this year?

400. We’re sold out.

What about the boiled potatoes people were handing out last year?

“Oh yeah! Those were from the Adamsville Coffee Klatch, a group of locals. They get together every Saturday and have coffee. I hope they hand them out again! Speaking of potatoes, we just got a peace offering from Hot Springs. Steve emailed us yesterday and appearing in their parade the last couple of years is the world’s largest potato. It’s called “The Big Idaho Potato,” it’s 72 feet long. So basically, Steve is offering to put us in contact with them to have the big Idaho Potato come to our town.

Are you going to do it?

“I don’t even know if it’ll fit in our parade!”