Budweiser Clydesdales to make several stops in Lehigh Valley this week

Appearances are set for Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

The Clydesdales are coming.

The horses made famous by Budweiser will be in the Lehigh Valley most of this week, with stops planned in Allentown, Bethlehem, Breinigsville and Easton.

Allentown Beverage and its partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev is helping to bring the horse team here.

The Budweiser Clydesdales initially were scheduled to be at Coca-Cola Park on Tuesday, Sept. 17, for the Triple-A National Championship game. That led to a longer stay that will place the horses in several spots leading up to that day.

"It all came together because the IronPigs are hosting the national championship game," said Dave Sherman, Allentown Beverage's director of marketing. "We were bringing the Clydesdales in for that purpose and a lot of other stuff started happening."

Sherman said this will be the first time in years that the world-famous horse team will be in the Lehigh Valley. While eight horses are usually on the hitch, there will actually be 11 Clydesdales here, rotating in and out of the team, Sherman said.

They'll be stabled at the Bethlehem Municipal Ice Skating Rink on Illick's Mill Road during their stay, which starts Tuesday. People will be able to visit the horses there from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day.

On Thursday, the Clydesdales will make ceremonial retail deliveries in Bethlehem with a procession that will start at 1 p.m. near the Steel Ice Center on South Side and go across the Fahy Bridge. From there the team will parade along North New, West Broad and Main streets, ending at The Wooden Match at Main and West Lehigh streets.

The horse team will be in Downtown Easton from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, again making retail deliveries to Allentown Beverage customers starting at Centre Square, Sherman said.

"Our different retail accounts that are along the way will have a delivery of a case of beer from the hitch," he said.

With the Clydesdales will be a Dalmatian, the dog breed in the old days that was trained to guard the horses and wagon while the driver left to make deliveries, Sherman said.

On Saturday, the Clydesdales will be at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center for the second annual Wheels for Hope charity bike ride.

Next Sunday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., the Illick's Mill Road stables again will be open to the public.

The horses will go to Allentown from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, again making retail deliveries, before making their Sept. 17 appearance at Coca-Cola Park.

Sherman said several beverage retailers are selling horseshoes as a fundraiser for the Bethlehem Police Department's mounted unit. Proceeds from the sales will go toward a new security system for the mounted unit's stables at Burnside Plantation, Sherman said.