Michelle Sheckler of Cedarville (left) served "scoop duty" with Todd St. Andrew of Griffin Beverage of St. Ignace (not pictured) during the Budweiser Clydesdale team's visit to Cedarville Thursday, July 26. The two were in charge of cleaning up behind the team as they paraded down the streets of Cedarville. Standing beside her is Cindy Gough, also of Cedarville, who had the hitch drivers sign a toy Clydesdale she bought in town to commemorate the event. The presence of the worldfamous Budweiser Clydesdales team drew surprisingly large crowds in St. Ignace and Cedarville last week, from the arrival of the horses in St. Ignace Monday, July 23, through their final day in the area Sunday, July 29.

The public response to Anheuser-Busch's trademark horse and beer wagon show was better than organizers hoped when they first conceived the idea of bringing the team to the gala Mackinac Bridge 50th anniversary celebration and parade. Parade coordinator Anne Ottaway of Cedarville made the initial contact with Anheuser-Busch, and Griffin Beverage of St. Ignace scheduled site visits and parades in St. Ignace, Mackinac Island, and Cedarville.

Clydesdales Supervisor Pete Petersen (left) pats Otis, the Dalmation dog seated between himself and Nick Margeson, while stopped at Ang-Gio's during the team's visit to Cedarville Thursday, July 26. "The response has been nothing but positive," said Mike Kamyszek, facility manager of Griffin Beverage, the local Anheuser-Busch distributor. "There has been a steady flow of people each day they've been at Little Bear. They're just such large, majestic animals, and there aren't many opportunities for people here to see them."

It was the first time the Clydesdales came to Cedarville, and the second time since 1984 they visited St. Ignace. Griffin Beverage coordinated a visit to Mackinac Island in 2003 in addition to last Tuesday's parade through the island's downtown area.

People started lining up Monday outside Little Bear East Arena and Community Center, where the horses were stabled inside and available for limited public viewing. The chance to see the impeccably maintained horses in their regalia, pulling an antique beer wagon, came at parades scheduled around the area the week they were here. Wednesday, July 25, spectators flocked to State Street in downtown St. Ignace to watch the horses deliver ceremonial cases of beer to Driftwood Sports Bar, B.C. Pizza, Galley Restaurant, Marina Pub, McGregor Oil, State Street Village Inn, and Mackinac Grille. Friday night, the team paraded from Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace to Mid-Jim and Little Bob's New Frontier restaurant, then back again to the Mackinac Bridge reception and banquet at the casino.

In Cedarville Thursday, July 26, hundreds of people lined the streets along the team's parade route. People could be overheard reminiscing about the last time they saw the Clydesdales, or the years they spent watching commercials featuring the horse team parading across the television screen. Spectators cheered and clapped for the team as they left each business where a ceremonial case of beer was delivered. People posed in front of the team to have their photographs taken with the team and handlers.

Cindy Gough, one of the owners of Cindy's Riding Stable and Jack's Livery on Mackinac Island, brought a stuffed Clydesdale to the Cedarville event and had it signed by the drivers. The event was significant to the longtime horse lover who has worked with horses her entire life, and Mrs. Gough bought the only stuffed Clydesdale she could find in Cedarville at Arfstrom Pharmacy.

It was all part of the carnivallike atmosphere that swept the town, drawing out local residents and summer people of all ages, as well as residents from neighboring towns. People lined up along the downtown area streets in Cedarville, including M-134, where the horses walked their longest route, about a mile west of the corner of M-129 and M-134. Approximately 100 people waited at that corner in front of Cedarville Foods and in the store's parking lot for the return of the hitch. The three semi-trucks that carried the team and its handlers from St. Ignace parked at the grocery store's lot before they were hitched to deliver cases to Bumpa's Bar, Cattail's Cove, Pammi's Restaurant, Ang-Gio's Restaurant, Cedar Pantry, and Cedarville Foods.

"That was quite the crowd," said Clydesdale supervisor Pete Petersen of the Cedarville parade. "For a small town and just us, that was a pretty large turn-out."

Both Mr. Kamyszek and Ms. Ottaway were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who turned out in Cedarville, and heard many calling the visit a "historic event."

"Bringing those horses there - that was something I really wanted to do for the community of Cedarville," Mr. Kamyszek said.

Although area residents are familiar with the draft horses that participate in horse pulls, and work and live in the rural areas of Pickford, Stalwart, DeTour, Kinross, and Sault Ste. Marie, Clydesdales are not a common sight in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

The Clydesdale breed was brought to the United States in the mid-1800s by Canadians of Scottish descent. The breed originated in Scotland, and was appreciated for its ability to pull loads of more than one ton at the relatively quick walking speed of five miles per hour.

The Anheuser-Busch Clydes- dales were formally introduced when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. To commemorate the repeal, the team ran down Pestalozzi Street in St. Louis, Missouri, carrying with it the first case of post- Prohibition beer from the St. Louis Anheuser-Busch brewery.

Mr. Kamyszek speculated much of the appeal is that the horses are so well maintained, accompanied everywhere by a team of eight human handlers. A professional groomer keeps the horses' manes, coats, and characteristic leg feather clean and silky. Shiny metal and leather tack, the highly polished, red beer wagon, and a Dalmatian dog add to the spectacle. Ten horses are transported to each of the 300 appearances the horses make around the country. Only eight horses pull the beer wagon, so the horses are rotated throughout the week to give two a day off from each daily engagement, Mr. Kamyszek said.

"We had to make sure there are always two people who remain with the two horses that stayed back [at Little Bear]," he added.

Mr. Kamyszek participated in all the parades, walking alongside the hitch at each local engagement.

"I've definitely gotten my exercise this week," he said, "but it's been great."

The Dalmatian traveling with the team in the Straits this week was six-year-old Otis. He nonchalantly entertained the crowds by dozing beside the drivers as they stopped at businesses and standing in perfect balance atop the oldstyle wooden beer cases on the wagon while it moved down streets in Cedarville and St. Ignace. Dalmatian dogs have traveled with the hitch since the 1950s. 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.

There are five traveling Budweiser Clydesdale hitches stabled in five cities: St. Louis, Missouri; Menifee, California; San Diego, California; Merrimack, New Hampshire, and San Antonio, Texas. The team visiting the Straits last week was from San Antonio.

The official home of the Clydesdales is a brick and stainedglass stable built in 1885 on the historic 100-acre Anheuser-Busch brewery complex in St. Louis. The building is a federally registered historic landmark.