My Night With Two Budweiser Clydesdale Hitches On A Bridge

It wasn't just two Clydesdale hitches coming together. 

That night, it felt like an entire country.

In my travels and duties as Manager of Budweiser Clydesdale Operations, I had been fortunate enough to attend some pretty special events. 

But it was the emotion ... the creativity ... the purpose ... that made Sunday, July 3rd, 2005, like no other. 

Nightfall had set in downtown St. Louis, but the activity of the massive Fair St. Louis July 4th celebration in and around the St. Louis Arch grounds was abuzz. 

The Mississippi River was in plain sight and here I stood at one end of the EADS Bridge, which connected Missouri and Illinois. 

For the past two months, two of our 8-horse hitches had been criss-crossing the country, stopping at dozens of U.S. cities as part of the "Clydesdales Across America: Here's to the Heroes Tour." 

The purpose? 

To pay tribute to our troops. 

At each stop a "Here's to the Heroes" mobile unit was set up to allow thousands of people the opportunity to send video messages to U.S. military personnel around the world.

Talk about powerful. 

And the Clydesdales, just like they seem to do wherever they go, amplified everything along the way. The event. The platform. The message. The emotion. What an incredible response they received. 

July 3rd was set up to be the finale. The two hitches that had been traveling separately across the country for the past two months would meet, right here in St. Louis, atop the EADS Bridge. 

One hitch would start on the Missouri side of the bridge. The other hitch would start on the Illinois side of the bridge. And at roughly 9:15pm they would meet in the middle, high atop the Mississippi River, as roughly a quarter of a million people watched from the St. Louis Arch grounds below. 

Go ahead. Picture it. 

An enormous bridge connecting two states. 

The massive outline of downtown St. Louis, including the world-famous Arch, lit in the background. 

And the activity, noise and anticipation of 250,000 people below as two, 8-horse Budweiser Clydesdale hitches slowly strutted their way to meet at the bridge's halfway point. 

Shivers. Down. The. Spine. There's really no other way to describe it.

When those two hitches finally met in the middle, it was like the entire country was there. Watching. Cheering. Smiling. Crying. 

The roar felt below the bridge was massive. If past and present U.S. military members across the world didn't hear or feel it, I'd be surprised. 

I really have to hand it to our Budweiser marketing team. Sure, we at Clydesdale operations prepped and handled the logistics, but this was their creation. They had planned it for months. They knew the emotional outcome they were looking for. And on that night, I saw it delivered ... tenfold. 

Following the meeting of the two hitches on the bridge, it was time for a massive fireworks celebration. A Fair St. Louis tradition and pure icing on the cake for the evening. 

It literally couldn't have been scripted any better. And it couldn't have done a better job of pulling Americans together. 

Maybe more nights like that are needed today ... just a thought. 

Here's to the Clydesdales and people that made that night special.

And, most importantly, Here's to our Heroes. It was an honor to be a part of it.