Click here to subscribe today or Login.
PLAINS TOWNSHIP — They stand 6 feet tall and weigh about 2,000 pounds. Their shoes are “big as dinner plates.” And when you see them move, all powerful muscles and swirling feathers — that’s the characteristic hair that grows around a Clydesdale’s ankles — chances are you’ll fall in love with these fascinating horses.
“They are gentle giants, and to see them is quite an awesome sight,” said Amy Clegg, owner of an Express Employment Professionals office in Scranton who helped arrange the appearance of six Express Employment Professionals Clydesdales from 4 to 6 p.m. March 11 at Mohegan Sun Pocono Racetrack in Plains Township.
Admission to the event is free, and it’s also free to pose for a photograph with the horses. Irish step dancers, singers and a bagpipe player will add to the festivities, raffle prizes will be awarded, and the horses will be hitched to an old-time stage coach and pull it around the track.
“Express Clydesdales have been around since 1999,” Clegg said, which means Budweiser isn’t the only company that decided the horses can be effective ambassadors of goodwill.
Express Employment Professionals, which matches job-seekers with clerical, industrial and professional employment, has about 750 other offices in North America, Clegg said, but she believes her Scranton office is the first to crown an Express Clydesdale Queen. “Nobody else had thought to do that,” she said.
Three young women from the area are finalists in the competition, which is based on leadership, poise and interest in entrepreneurship.
In the running to be crowned during the March 11 event are Grace Penney from Crestwood High School in Mountain Top; Kady Hodge of Falls, who attends Tunkhannock Area High School, and Rachel Jones of Mountain Top, who attends Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre.
The winner will receive a scholarship and will ride in a place of honor in the stagecoach — the very seat where Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, rode when she and Prince William rode the stagecoach in a Calgary, Canada, parade.
The stagecoach has room for 24 riders, Clegg said, and some of them will appear in period costume, the better to match the vintage stagecoach.
Raffles and a silent auction for bicycles, an overnight stay at Mohegan Sun and other prizes, including a chance to ride in the Clydesdale wagon, will round out the event. Proceeds benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The Express Clydesdales will follow this event by marching in the Scranton St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which begins at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, March 12 in downtown Scranton. The majestic horses have participated in some of the country’s most recognized events, according to a news release including Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Tournament of Roses Parade, Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Fiesta Bowl Parade, Orange Bowl Parade, the Calgary Stampede Parade, the Kentucky Derby Pegasus Parade, the International Finals Rodeo and the Professional Bull Riders World Finals.
