Contest celebrates much-maligned but enduring mullet

Austyn Whirt, 18, prepares for a mullet hairstyle contest, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A contest that celebrates the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle will get underway Monday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

The short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back coiffure, once the province of Canadian hockey players and hair metal bands, was expected to attract dozens of competitors for the day’s “mane” attraction. Categories included children under five, throwback mullets and the patriotic Flow of Freedom Award.

Ben Barley, seven, of Red Lion, Pennsylvania, arrived at the event with his parents two hours ahead of the event wearing a T-shirt featuring his name and the words “MULLET LIFE 6-7,” a nod to both his hairstyle and the bafflingly popular youth catchphrase. He said he’d been working on his mullet for two years.

Though mullets likely have been around longer than there have been barbers, the Oxford English Dictionary cites hip hop legends the Beastie Boys for helping popularize the term mullet with the song “Mullet Head” on their 1994 recording, “Ill Communication.” As the venerable dictionary notes, it’s a term that is slang, humorous “and frequently derogatory.”

The contest, in its third year, is one of the few at the fair open to people who live outside Pennsylvania.

Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press