FERNDALE, Mich. – The Ford Mustang is approaching its 59^th Birthday, on April 17, 2023, and fans everywhere are preparing to celebrate this coming weekend with hundreds of cruise-ins, driving events and car shows the world over. So how are you planning to celebrate National Mustang Day? With that date falling on a Monday this year, most events are being conducted on the April 14-16 weekend. Ever since the Mustang turned 50, the idea of owners and fans getting out on (or the weekend nearest) April 17^th to celebrate National Mustang Day has grown into a global phenomenon. National Mustang Day was originally set up to be an annual fundraiser for the Mustang Owner’s Museum via the sale of windshield stickers to participating clubs. The museum, which is located in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina, set up a National Mustang Day website to facilitate the sale of the window clings and list all of the participating club activities planned for that day, as well as to register for the museum’s own event on that day.

This year, the museum is celebrating its 5^th Anniversary in conjunction with its 2023 National Mustang Day events on April 14 & 15. There’ll be a new Mustang Design Exhibit reveal, cruises, a car show, guest speakers from Ford and Shelby, a barbeque, plus the annual Hall of Fame Induction and more. (Our own Austin Atwood will be there on April 15, with a presentation on the Ford Special Vehicle Registry, along with a free keepsake gift for all who attend, so don’t miss it.) Visit the Mustang Owners Museum website for full details and registration info. If you can’t make it to the Mustang Owner’s Museum that weekend, then contact your local Mustang club or group (see www.fordperformanceclubconnect.com) or simply review what some of the many Mustang fans will be doing in your area by checking the many 2023 National Mustang Day activities listed on the NMD website.

In addition to activities at the Mustang Owner’s Museum, Ford Performance is planning coverage from some select National Mustang Day events on April 15^th, most notably a gathering of several MCA regional clubs and Facebook groups in Ohio for a road trip to the Halderman Museum outside of Dayton that weekend, as well as to tag along with the Mustang Owners Club of SouthEastern Michigan (MOCSEM) for their Detroit-area driving event. MOCSEM plans to meet in the front lot at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, MI, at noon on Saturday, April 15, for a photo-op, then cruise to an exclusive secret destination where there’ll be food, music, fun – and a very special feature there. Get details on the club’s website. Although some Mustang clubs and groups are now calling April 17^th “Global Mustang Day,” we hope you get the chance to get out and celebrate -- no matter what you call it. The only rules are to have fun, and stay safe!

As a warmup for all that will be happening over the next several days, we’re offering a dazzling photo gallery to get you in the proper Mustang mood. A while back, we asked our “dynamic duo” of Ford Performance contributing photographers, Joe Deladvitch and Sean Devine, if they could try and capture the essence of the Mustang experience with their cameras so that we can share it with you. They took us up on the request.

So they drove to Detroit from their home-base in Delaware last summer to attend the annual Woodward Dream Cruise. There they toured Ford’s famed Mustang Alley, the epicenter of Blue Oval fandom, just off Woodward Avenue in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, Michigan.

Just like they did to capture the Mustang experience for us at the Carlisle Ford Nationals last year, Joe and Sean toured Mustang Alley to mingle with the cars, owners and fans and give us an up-close look at what makes seeing and owning Mustangs so much fun. They sent us some of their favorite shots for our photo gallery below – so check it out and see why Ford’s famous pony car has kept hearts racing for nearly six decades:

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY JOE DELADVITCH & SEAN DEVINE