Clydesdales show off in Manatee and Sarasota counties

If you are a fan of horses and living in the Lakewood Ranch area, you must be happy that Spring Training is on the way.

What is the connection?

To help build excitement for the baseball season, Anheuser-Busch has decided in the past to send its Clydesdale teams to Spring Training parks.

That is the case again this year as the "Boys Are Back in Town" tour will visit Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Hugh Shields, the marketing administrator at Gold Coast Eagle Distributing, said the 10-horse team (eight pull the wagon in each appearance while two rest) was expected to arrive in the area Monday. Unlike the last time Budweiser Clydesdales visited in 2022, the horses won't be staying at the Sarasota Polo Club in Lakewood Ranch. The current polo season has been so popular, the polo club didn't have enough stalls.

However, the Clydesdales are staying at a Sarasota ranch.

Photo by Jay Heater

Their first appearance will be on Ocean Boulevard in Siesta Key on Wednesday at 5 p.m. On Thursday, the team will parade through Main Street at Lakewood Ranch beginning at 5 p.m.

On Friday, it is a visit to Rossi Park in downtown Bradenton at 5 p.m. before the team heads for CoolToday Park at 1 p.m. on Saturday in North Port.

On Sunday the team, which is out of Merrimack, New Hampshire, has a 5 p.m. gig down Old Stickney Point Road in Siesta Key, right past Captain Curt's Crab and Oyster Bar. On Feb. 20, one of the Clydesdales will make an appearance at Twin Peaks at 3060 Fruitville Commons Blvd, Sarasota. at 4:30 p.m.

Then it's off to Daytona in their 50-foot tractor trailers.

All the appearances are free to the public.

The Clydesdales history with Anheuser-Busch started in 1933 when Adolphus Busch's children surprised him with a six-horse Clydesdale team to commemorate the repeal of Prohibition of beer, according to the Anheuser-Busch website.