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Hey, that looks familiar |
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Tuesday, 18 September 2007 |
 The children of former Inyo County resident Evan Jones stand in front of an informational display featuring a photo of the Budweiser Clydesdales in the Owens Valley. The photo is at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, and every time he sees it, Jones makes sure to tell other visitors the photo is from California, not Scotland. Photo courtesy Evan Jones By Jon Klusmire
Register Staff 9-15-2007
The signature scenic photo snapped in the Bishop area typically includes the slow-moving Owens River in the foreground, a middle ground of pasture or scrub land and then, capping the whole thing off, the striking view of the snow-capped Sierra featuring a towering Mt. Tom jutting into a blue sky.
Take that general idea and put the famous Budweiser Clydesdale draft horses running through the pasture with the river mirroring the brawny horses and majestic mountains and you have the signature informational attraction at the Clydesdales’ stables at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va.
The photo was probably shot sometime during the winter of 2005-06, since there is plenty of snow on Mt. Tom and the Sierra. The Clydesdales were on a working vacation in Bishop that winter to shoot a Super Bowl commercial on a ranch outside of Independence. The whole Super Bowl production was wrapped in a cloak of secrecy and mystery, just like other local Super Bowl shoots because the content and look of ads slated to run on the biggest advertising day of the year are closely guarded secrets.
Apparently, though, during the horses’ stay in the area, they and a photographer went out for a little jaunt along the banks of the Owens. It probably didn’t take much to get the superbly trained horses to cantor along the river bank in a group to produce the photo that has become part of the display at the Williamsburg Busch Gardens.
The photo is striking, but some visitors seem to get the incorrect impression that the Owens Valley is actually the ancestral home of the Clydesdale breed.
Under the heading, “Dawn of a New Breed,” the information under the photo notes that in the 19th century, the Great Flemish White Horse, the forerunner of the Clydesdale, was first bred along the banks of the River Clyde in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
And therein lies the root of the confusion, notes former Owens Valley resident Evan Jones, who now lives in Virginia with his family and is a frequent visitor to Busch Gardens.
As soon as Jones saw the new display and photo by the horse stables, he wrote in an e-mail, “I instantly knew where the photo was taken, along the Owens River with Mt. Tom and the Sierra skyline in the background.”
Having heard about the numerous Super Bowl commercial shot by Budweiser using the Clydesdales in the Owens Valley, Jones noted he wasn’t surprised that the “photogenic” Owens Valley would also prove to be a dramatic setting for a still photo of the Clydesdales.
However, Jones said that now when he visits the gardens he seeks out the Clydesdale area, and hangs around the photo and information board to listen to the comments of other visitors. Almost all of them, he writes, look at the photo, read about the River Clyde and make about the same comment: “Oh, how beautiful it is in Scotland.”
Jones then dutifully informs one and all that the beautiful sight they are seeing is actually in the Owens Valley in California. Some, he reports, don’t believe him, so he tells these doubting Thomases that he lived in the area, knows almost the exact location where the photo was shot, and names the Owens River and Mt. Tom. Eventually people believe him when he says, “it really is in California and it is not in Scotland.”
Jones say he was “surprised” and “upset” that Anheuser-Busch didn’t clearly inform visitors about where the photo was taken, which leaves many to conclude that they are looking at Clydedales frolicking in valley of the River Clyde in Scotland, not along the banks of the Owens River outside of Bishop, Calif.
(Maybe the Bishop Chamber of Commerce could make Jones a long-distance chamber ambassador for his efforts to inform Virginians and other East Coast types about the beauty of the Owens Valley.)
The rest of the information on the display is familiar to Inyo County residents, since the Clydesdales have almost become second-stable owners in the Owens Valley. The famous team and accompanying wagon, drivers and the Dalmatian dog that rides along have been a big hit in two Mule Days parades. The precision team also wowed Mule Days fans with a little close- order work in the arena.
Horse, beer and football fans, of course, rave about the pair of Super Bowl commercials, which show teams of Clydedales in a mock football game. One commercial featured a streaking, “naked” sheep, and the other a donkey as a referee in the instant-replay booth.
Anyway, back to the history lesson. The Scottish horse breeders on the River Clyde used the big horses to pull loads up to one ton, at a walking speed of 5 mph. Clydesdales were brought to North America by Canadians of Scottish descent.
In April of 1933, August A. Busch, Jr., introduced the first team of Budweiser Clydesdales to celebrate the end of Prohibition.
The immaculate wagon and meticulously groomed and trained teams of horses have remained a steady visual symbol of the brew ever since.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 October 2007 )
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| I`ve been vacationing in the bishop area all my life. as a child
my father would take us up to tom`s place every summer to fish.now that my father
has passed, my visits there remind me of him. i`ve been visiting since 1965! William Jones - San Diego, CA | |
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