Harrisburg, Pennsylvania– A contest celebrating the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle will begin Monday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Once the province of Canadian hockey players and hair metal bands, the short-front, long-back hairstyle was expected to attract dozens of competitors for the “mane” appeal of the day. Categories included Under-5s, Bounce Mullet Award, and National Freedom Flow Award.
Ben Barley, 7, of Red Lion, Pennsylvania, arrived at the event with his parents two hours early wearing a T-shirt with his name and the phrase “MULLET LIFE 6-7,” a reference to his hairstyle and baffling popularity. Youth phrase. He said he’s been working on the mullet for two years.
Although the mullet has likely been around longer than barbers, the Oxford English Dictionary cites hip-hop legends Beastie Boys for helping popularize the term mullet with the song “Mullet Head” on their 1994 record, “Ill Communication.” As the venerable dictionary points out, it is a slang, humorous, and “often derogatory” term.
The contest, in its third year, is one of the few at the fair that is open to people who live outside of Pennsylvania.