LONGWOOD, Fla. – If there’s one thing about living in Florida, it’s that you just don’t know what the weather is going to bring you when you plan an outdoor event. Two weeks before the Mid-Florida Mustang Club hosted its 36th Annual Mustang & Ford Roundup in beautiful and historic Downtown Longwood, Florida, the Weather Channel was predicting sunny, clear skies for that week. Fast forward to five days before the show. and it changed to a 70-percent chance of thunderstorms. Needless to say, as Mustang people, we were sweating Bullitts. As it turned out, the day before the show it rained.

But come show day on February 4, 2023, the event was blessed with nothing but clear, blue skies and beautiful temperatures. The club’s theory worked: Tell everyone to bring an umbrella and it won’t rain. There were 250 cars pre-registered before the club had to shut down registration, as this show’s usual limit of judged cars is 200. The club ended up having to call-in an emergency order for additional trophies to insure there was an adequate supply on hand if everyone who registered actually showed up. Between the registered cars, the day-of-show entries and the display-only cars, there were 317 absolutely stunning vehicles on the show field.
Show workers surmised that this was one of the most highly attended events the club has ever hosted -- spectators and participants included. Each year, the Mid-Florida Mustang Club tries to make this event a little bit different from other car shows. To that end, this year’s Roundup included everything from a Farmers Market, Police Vehicle displays (including a Sheriff’s Department helicopter), 501st Legion Star War Figures, a Pet Rescue, Food Trucks, and various vendors. With 2023 being the 55th Anniversary of the Ford Mustang California Special, a special display honoring Ford’s first specialty model Mustangs was included. While it’s getting tougher each year to come up with different ideas to beat the previous year, organizers do their best in making this an enjoyable event for everyone.
Some of the Roundup’s specialty awards included: Best of Show; Judges’ Top Choice for each class; Best Paint; Mayor’s Choice; Longwood Police Choice; Furthest Driven; and Best Club Participation award, to name just a few. There was also a Top 20 Popular Vote for non-judged vehicles. It was an honor to have the Longwood Mayor, Matt Morgan, and the Longwood Police Chief, Chief David Dowda, present their choice awards and address the crowd. In all, more than 200 trophies were awarded this year.

A great big Thank You goes out to the Southern Ford Dealers and National Parts Depot for being Platinum Event Sponsors, along with all of the other club sponsors, including Orlando Mustang; Tint World; Gingerbread Insurance; VMP Performance; Kirkendall Insurance; JMS Chips; Doby’s Kustom Karts; C Woodworth Enterprises LLC; Zion Security; AAA Trophies; Ford Press; Custom Pony Cars; American Muscle; Debary Paint & Body; and KW Realty -- plus all of the on-site show vendors.

Lastly, all of the Mid-Florida Mustang Club volunteers need to be recognized for doing an outstanding job making this year’s Roundup one of the most successful ever. They pulled out all the stops in making sure everyone was welcome and felt appreciated for supporting the show. The Mid-Florida Mustang Club not only thanks everyone who participated in the 2023 Roundup, but wishes to remind all to your calendars for the 37th Annual Mustang & Ford Roundup in Longwood on February 3, 2024. While you can’t be certain about the weather, you can be sure you don’t want to miss what the club is planning for the next show.

ADDITIONAL EVENT PHOTOS / COURTESY BILL ACEVEDO, DAVID LAU & GIL PEPITONE