HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — 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 5, throwback mullets and the patriotic Flow of Freedom Award.
Meredith Nelson, right, smiles at her son, Mikey “The Mullet” Nelson, an 8-year old-contestant in a mullet hairstyle contest, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
Meredith Nelson, right, smiles at her son, Mikey “The Mullet” Nelson, an 8-year old-contestant in a mullet hairstyle contest, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
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Mikey “The Mullet” Nelson, an 8-year old-contestant in a mullet hairstyle contest, gets ready for competition, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
Mikey “The Mullet” Nelson, an 8-year old-contestant in a mullet hairstyle contest, gets ready for competition, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
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Ben Barley, 7, 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.
Billy Jenkins, left, gets his 6-year-old son Axell Jenkins ready for a mullet hairstyle contest, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
Billy Jenkins, left, gets his 6-year-old son Axell Jenkins ready for a mullet hairstyle contest, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
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Ben Barley, a 7-year-old first-grader from Red Lion, Pa., waits with his father, Robert Barley, for the start of a mullet judging contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
Ben Barley, a 7-year-old first-grader from Red Lion, Pa., waits with his father, Robert Barley, for the start of a mullet judging contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
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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.
