As America prepares for the July 4th weekend, Ford is gearing up for its own weekend in a big way. You see, the 20th anniversary of the ESSENCE Festival kicks off in New Orleans this week, marking Ford’s sixth consecutive year as the exclusive automotive sponsor. In celebrating, Ford will hand off the keys to a new 2015 Ford Mustang.

To celebrate the Mustang’s 50th birthday, festival attendees have the opportunity to win the keys to the all-new Mustang by visiting the Ford Booth (located in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center) and registering to win. The car will be given away live by Nephew Tommy of “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” in the superdome on July 6th.

While at the ESSENCE Festival, which is a cultural celebration, Ford will also run a series of other activities.

“Our collaboration with ESSENCE on the festival is rooted in our shared commitment to empower, as well as our goals as a company to go further when it comes to not only our products, but also our communities,” said Shawn Thompson, manager, Ford Multicultural Marketing. “The ESSENCE Festival holds such a special place in the hearts of African Americans – particularly African American women – and this provides an amazing and relevant environment for us to engage with these consumers.”

Ford’s “Pink Friday” initiative is celebrating its third year in an effort to raise breast cancer awareness and stress the importance of early detection. Ford Warriors in Pink will donate $20 to the Young Survival Coalition for each of the first 200 test drives completed at the festival.

Ford will also help solo recording artist Sevyn Streeter document her journey to perform on the Ford Superlounge stage through a four-part webs series called “My First Festival: Road to ESSENCE” which is already live at www.essence.com.

The interactive Ford booth will also host live Sirius XM broadcasts throughout the weekend with scheduled appearances by Tamar Braxton, Kem, Ledisi, Jazmine Sullivan, Estelle, and hip-hop artist and actor Common.

“Ford has a lot planned for this year’s festival, and we are excited for all the weekend has to offer,” said Thompson. “We hope attendees walk away with not only a greater awareness of our newest products, but also of our continued commitment to the empowerment of African American culture.”

You can join the conversation throughout this weekend by using hashtags #fordup and #MustangandMe.