KENT:
They’re big, they’re beautiful and they came back to Northeast Ohio equipped with beer.
The world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales paraded through downtown Kent Thursday night to deliver cases of beer to bars that serve Anheuser-Busch.
Thousands of people lined the streets to see the revered horses, and most even waited out the half-hour rain delay.
“I wanted to see them because they look so beautiful on commercials,” said 12-year-old Shelby Mamajek from Kent.
“I’ve seen them before, but I love the commercials,” added Beth Chilcoat, a friend of Shelby’s grandmother.
It took organizers nearly an hour to pull out the red, white and gold Studebaker-built beer wagon and equip the horses with their 130-pound harness and leather saddle, both stitched with pure linen thread.
Each Clydesdale, weighing around 2,000 pounds, donned red and white roses in its mane and bows on its knotted tail.
They traveled into town in three pristine red, white and gold tractor-trailers.
George Tilden of Kent, a past assistant director of the Student Union at the University of Akron, has been to the horses’ home stables and brewery in St. Louis, and said their living quarters are just as well taken care of as the trailers.
“I thought this was a fantastic idea,” Tilden said. “I think it’s just great for the kids to see. … It’s a show for the whole family.”
After posing for thousands of pictures, the eight horses took off, pulling the wagon filled with cases of Budweiser.
The two drivers stopped at different bars around the downtown area and passed off a case to each manager.
“Yeah! Beer!” yelled Dan Friend, the general manager at the Venice Cafe, as he walked into his bar proudly holding the case over his head.
“It’s pretty awesome that this many people show up for this,” Friend said. “It’s pretty cool to get [the beer] off the old carriage.”
This is the third time the Clydesdales have been to Kent in the past 10 years. The last time was 2009.
Doug Fuller, a board member of the Main Street Kent organization, said a manager at Ray’s Place usually reaches out to bring the Clydesdales into town, and then the organization helps coordinate the event.
“People love it,” he said.
The Clydesdales became part of the Anheuser-Busch culture in 1933 when August A. Busch Jr. gave the horses and beer wagon to his father to commemorate the first bottle of beer brewed in St. Louis after Prohibition.
They’ve been promoting Budweiser ever since, delivering beer to different cities 10 months out of the year.
And they have a following wherever they go.
“They’re just beautiful animals and so well taken care of,” said Richard Hinkle, there with his wife, Judy, of Tallmadge. “It is a very big deal I think.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com.