Clydesdale sale returns to Springfield State Fairgrounds; more shows on the way – Cedar Valley Daily Times

Grant Johnson said it was his brother, Mitchell Johnson, who started helping a family friend's daughter take care of Clydesdale horses.

Eventually, Grant Johnson's parents, Dennis and Linda Johnson of Springfield bought their first Clydesdale in 1990. The family stable, Linden Clydes, still has seven of the iconic horses.

Grant Johnson now works full-time for Anheuser-Busch-In Bev's eastern hitch of Clydesdales in Merrimack, New Hampshire, but he's back in Springfield this week for the 2021 National Clydesdale Sale that begins a three-day run at the Illinois State Fairgrounds beginning Thursday.

The sale is open to the public, Johnson said.

Johnson said his entire family, including another brother, Dustin from Morton, volunteers with the sale, which has a connection to Springfield and the fairgrounds going back to the mid-1980s.

"We'll do whatever we can to help the association and sale be successful," Grant Johnson said by phone earlier this week. "My parents are barn managers. They oversee the stalling and they do a lot for the association. This is unpaid work, but it's a passion.

"It's exciting to be back here. When you know the facility, you feel comfortable. It feels natural. We know staff on a first-name basis. It's great to have that home-base feeling."

Scott Dahl, director of the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the sale is expected to attract about 2,000 to 3,000 attendees, still a little lighter from previous years because of concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and travel.

Dahl said other shows at the fairgrounds are on the horizon, including the Palomino World Championships July 6-16 and in 2022 and 2023, the National Appaloosa Show in 2022 and the American Truck Historical Society National Convention and Truck Show in 2023.

Springfield is also in the running for the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association national auto show, "a Bloomington Gold" type show as far as scope, Dahl said.

Most of those scheduled shows, Dahl added, were born out of an intentional partnership and collaboration between the SCVB and fairgrounds sales teams.

Some them, like the Clydesdales sale, had a history in Springfield, but had left for other cities. In more recent years, that show has been in Decatur, Lake St. Louis, Missouri and Shipshewana, Indiana, but sales teams in Springfield were able to "prospect" shows, that is, roll out out the welcome mat, for a return, Dahl said.

The fact that sales teams from the SCVB and the fairgrounds didn't furlough people because of the pandemic, Dahl added, kept the lines of communication open and in the end paid dividends.

Grant Johnson said the fairgrounds' facilities and stalling, including the Livestock Center, are probably "a significant reason why (the sale) came back here.

"The fairgrounds are immaculate and met the association's needs. A lot of exhibitors and breeders come from Canada, so Springfield is centrally located. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants. That's why it was here for so long (to begin with)."

The Clydesdale sale will include horse-related clothing, harness, barn and show supplies, wagons and trailers. There will be educational seminars on a variety of topics relating to owning and showing Clydesdale horses.

The Clydesdales' reputation, Johnson said, was built on what Anheuser-Busch and Budweiser did for the breed and marketing think St. Louis Cardinals baseball opening day, Super Bowl commercials or the Illinois State Fair parade.

But even Johnson admitted that Belgian and Percheron horses are more popular draught horses. Amish communities still use them for farming and in the show world and competitive world, people prefer both to Clydesdales.

A day's ration for the horses, which weigh between 1,800 and 2,300 pounds each, is 25 quarts of grain, 50 pounds of hay and 30 gallons of water.

The Clydesdales are a lot more work because of the white, flowing hairs on their legs, also called feathers.

"You have to wash the feathers every day," said Johnson, who oversees 10 Clydesdales in New Hampshire. "If you go into the show world, you have to do additional work to keep those feathers nice and clean."

In a normal year, Johnson, a former event administrator at the University of Illinois Springfield, spends about 40 weeks on the road with the hitch team.

Dahl said looking to 2022 and beyond, Springfield's convention bookings look "very strong. Our 2022 is shaping to look like (pre-COVID) 2019."

Dahl said the industry will see domestic leisure travel starting in June and moving through the summer, with anticipation that international travel returns some time in 2022.

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Clydesdale sale returns to Springfield State Fairgrounds; more shows on the way - Cedar Valley Daily Times