Budweiser Clydesdales to join St. Patrick’s Day parade lineup
By Beth Reed
This article was published today at 3:42 p.m.
Hot Springs’ annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade will include, for the first time, the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales this year, Visit Hot Springs announced Wednesday.
“We have had almost constant contact over the years with the Anheuser-Busch folks who manage the Clydesdales in an effort to get them to take part in our parade,” Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said Wednesday in a news release.
“This year, Jay Castillo, president of Arkansas Beverage Sales Inc. here in Hot Springs, was successful in getting the big, beautiful horses signed up for our 98-foot extravaganza. We couldn’t be more pleased,” Arrison said.
It is not the first time the parade has included Clydesdales in its lineup. Last year, a team was brought in by Hot Springs’ Express Employment. The Express Clydesdales are known for their participation in Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, as well as the Kentucky Derby Pegasus Parade and the Tournament of Roses Parade.
The Budweiser Clydesdales will bring a new level of excitement and attention to Hot Springs, Arrison said, as a world-recognized symbol of tradition for Anheuser-Busch since 1933.
The eight-horse hitch will be harnessed and hitched to the famous red beer wagon for the 98-foot trip down Bridge Street for the First Ever 15th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17.
Canadians of Scottish descent brought the first Clydesdales to America in the mid-1800s. Today, the giant draft horses are used primarily for breeding and show, the release said.
Clydesdales chosen to represent Budweiser must be at least 3 years of age, stand approximately 18 hands — or 6 feet — at the shoulder, weigh an average of 2,000 pounds, must be bay in color, have four white stockings, and a blaze of white on the face and black mane and tail. A gentle temperament is very important, since the Clydesdales meet millions of people each year, the release said.
A single Clydesdale hitch horse will consume as much as 25 quarts of feed, 50 pounds of hay and 30 gallons of water per day.
Each hitch travels with a Dalmatian coach dog. In the early days of brewing, Dalmatians were bred and trained to protect the horses and guard the wagon when the driver went inside to make deliveries, the release said.
The Budweiser Clydesdales can be viewed at the Anheuser-Busch breweries in St. Louis, Mo., Merrimack, N.H., and Fort Collins, Colo. They also may be viewed at Grant’s Farm in St. Louis and at Warm Springs Ranch, the 300-acre Clydesdale breeding farm located near Boonville, Mo.
Each of the Clydesdales’ handcrafted harnesses and collars weigh approximately 130 pounds. The turn-of-the-century beer wagons have been meticulously restored and are equipped with two braking systems: a hydraulic pedal device that slows the vehicle for turns and downhill descents, and a hand-brake that locks the rear wheels when the wagon is at a halt, the release said.
The Budweiser Clydesdales are given short names, such as Duke, Mark and Bud, to make it easier for the driver to give commands to the horses during a performance. Each horse’s horseshoes measure more than 20 inches from end to end and weigh about 5 pounds, it said.
Dalmatians were known as coach dogs because they ran between the wheels of coaches or carriages and were companions to the horses. Since the 1950s, Dalmatians have traveled with the Budweiser Clydesdales hitch, perched atop the wagon proudly seated next to the driver, the release said.
This year’s parade will feature Joey Fatone of *NSYNC as celebrity grand marshal and Jon Heder of “Napoleon Dynamite” fame as the parade’s official starter. The Mountain Pine High School Red Devil Marching Band will be the first certified school marching band in the parade, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. this year, an hour later than usual, to give racing fans attending the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park time to get downtown for the parade.
Pre-parade activities will include a free public concert by Grand Funk Railroad and Adam Faucett at 7:15 p.m. March 16 at the Broadway Entertainment District stage. On March 17, immediately following the parade, there will be another free public concert at the same location by Morris Day and The Time.
