Massive Meet ’N Greet Kicks Off Mustang Week ’17

Last August, Mustang Week let its sponsors know that the preeminent Mustang event in the country was going to alter its successful formula. Having outgrown its spot at the mall, the event team forged a new way forward for the event, which included a change of timeframe. That time has arrived.

“Upon returning from this year’s event, the Mustang Week Staff began working with the Myrtle Beach Convention Center to move our two largest events, Friday’s Car Show and Saturday’s Cruise-In, to that location,” Mustang Week’s Rodney Melton told sponsors back then. “And, after some time and careful consideration, we have reached an agreement and our two main events will move there in 2017.”

We thought it would take a little bit of a hit at the beginning of the week, but just looking around I don’t feel like it did. — Mike Clay, Mustang Week

That was just the beginning of the shuffle, as the event’s dates would move from July into early September when both temperatures and crowds begin to wane in the beachside community. As part of the change, the event’s official kickoff — the Meet ’N Greet — would return to the site where Mustang Week began as a modest cruise-in, the sprawling Broadway at the Beach shopping and entertainment district.

In July this facility’s parking lot is bursting at the seams. Today, when Mustang Week 2017 began, the busiest section of the lot was filled with Mustang Week participants and spectators, who filled a section of the huge lot and took advantage of the many nearby shops and restaurants between Mustang ogling sessions.

%CODE1%

“Just really surprised how good the turnout is,” Mustang Week’s Mike Clay told us while the event was in full swing. “We thought it would take a little bit of a hit at the beginning of the week, but just looking around I don’t feel like it did.”

Having taken the brunt of some harsh blowback from the date change, the Mustang Week organizers exuded a sense of relief and redemption. Moreover, the early returns for the big events later in the week are promising.

“The car show sold out all 700 spots — 600 of those sold in just over 24 hours,” Mike added. “In years past we did 500 in just under 24, so that kind of told us we were probably on track. We took on an additional 100 and when that happened, the sponsorship went crazy.”

And for good reason, Mustang Week is a feel-good event for fan’s of Ford’s pony car. It offers myriad events — autocross runs, cruise-ins, car shows, drag racing, oval-track laps, and more — which people can sample as they see fit while also enjoying all that the vacation destination has to offer.

We hit the pavement at the Meet ’N Greet and the BFGoodrich autocross school, which began the week’s official events, and all was definitely well. Check out a sampling of the cool cars we spotted today and stay tuned for our continuing coverage this week.