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<\/p>\nAP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa
\nMikey \u201cThe Mullet\u201d Nelson, an 8-year old-contestant in a mullet hairstyle contest, gets ready for competition, Monday, Jan. 12, in Harrisburg, Pa. <\/p>\n
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) \u2014 A packed crowd celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle Monday in a contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n
The short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back coiffure, once the province of Canadian hockey players and hair metal bands, attracted about 150 competitors and more than a thousand spectators for the day\u2019s \u201cmane\u201d attraction.<\/p>\n
The top award, in the form of the rear bumper of a Corvette, went to 10-year-old Drew Fleschut of Dallas, Pennsylvania \u2014 who wore a red-and-black shirt in an homage to movie character Joe Dirt and carried Joe\u2019s trademark mop.<\/p>\n
Contestants were evaluated for the style of their cut, any props or accessories, their presentation and their overall sense of commitment, said judge Brittany Goldberg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is for fun,\u201d said Goldberg, owner of Heavy Metal Hair Salon in Philadelphia. \u201cIt\u2019s about the camaraderie and everyone having a laugh and a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
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AP Photo\/Tassanee Vejpongsa
\nAustyn Whirt, 18, prepares for a mullet hairstyle contest, Monday, Jan. 12, in Harrisburg, Pa. <\/p>\n
There were magic tricks, customized T-shirts and even a \u201cskullet\u201d \u2014 a mullet sported by a balding man. One kid didn\u2019t want to leave the stage. Another took the occasion to pick his nose. Some danced the worm, some dabbed and a few ripped off their shirts, pro-wrestling style.<\/p>\n
Brittni Williamson of Harvey\u2019s Lake brought along her 3-year-old son Mason, who ended up with a mullet when the hair on the back of his head grew more quickly than the rest of his hair when he was a baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just clean it up in the front and keep the party going,\u201d Williamson said. Mason didn\u2019t win, but he did get to accomplish his New Year\u2019s resolution by feeding a cow.<\/p>\n
Ben Barley, 7, of Red Lion arrived at the event wearing a T-shirt featuring his name and the words \u201cMULLET LIFE 6-7,\u201d a nod to both his hairstyle and the bafflingly popular youth catchphrase. He said he\u2019d been working on his mullet for two years.<\/p>\n
Kyle Wertman said he was inspired to go with a mullet while watching old professional wrestling footage of Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He gets a lot of comments about it in his hometown of Murrysville.<\/p>\n
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AP Photo\/Mark Scolforo
\nBen 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey like to fluff the curls in the back, \u2018Look at this thing, it\u2019s got a mind of its own,’\u201d said Wertman, 43, who works in sales and service of industrial air compressors.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s taken Lancaster resident Brayden Shaner, 14, about four years to grow his mullet, which was good enough for third-place in the teenager category.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like it because it\u2019s different,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t see, walking through the grocery store, people with a mullet. I think the girls like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201cMullet Head\u201d on their 1994 recording, \u201cIll Communication.\u201d As the venerable dictionary notes, it\u2019s a term that is slang, humorous \u201cand frequently derogatory.\u201d<\/p>\n
The contest, in its third year, is one of the few at the Pennsylvania Farm Show open to people who live outside the state.<\/p>\n