'Joe Dirt' tribute takes top prize in Pennsylvania Farm Show mullet contest

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A packed crowd celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle Monday in a contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.

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's “mane” attraction.

The top award, in the form of the rear bumper of a Corvette, went to 10-year-old Drew Fleschut of Dallas, Pennsylvania — who wore a red-and-black shirt in an homage to movie character Joe Dirt and carried Joe's trademark mop.

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.

“This is for fun,” said Goldberg, owner of Heavy Metal Hair Salon in Philadelphia. “It's about the camaraderie and everyone having a laugh and a good time.”

There were magic tricks, customized T-shirts and even a “skullet” — a mullet sported by a balding man. One kid didn't 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.

Brittni Williamson of Harvey's 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.

“We just clean it up in the front and keep the party going,” Williamson said. Mason didn't win, but he did get to accomplish his New Year's resolution by feeding a cow.

Ben Barley, 7, of Red Lion arrived at 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.

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.

“They like to fluff the curls in the back, ‘Look at this thing, it’s got a mind of its own,'” said Wertman, 43, who works in sales and service of industrial air compressors.

It's taken Lancaster resident Brayden Shaner, 14, about four years to grow his mullet, which was good enough for third-place in the teenager category.

“I like it because it's different,” he said. “You don't see, walking through the grocery store, people with a mullet. I think the girls like it.”

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 Pennsylvania Farm Show open to people who live outside the state.

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)

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)

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)

Austyn Whirt, 18, prepares for 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)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The FBI said in a court document made public Monday that it had found no surveillance or other video of a Border Patrol agent shooting and wounding two people in a pickup truck during an immigration enforcement operation in Portland, Oregon, last week.

Agents told investigators that one of their colleagues opened fire Thursday after the driver put the truck in reverse and repeatedly slammed into an unoccupied car the agents had rented, smashing its headlights and knocking off its front bumper. The agents said they feared for their own safety and that of the public, the document said.

The FBI has interviewed four of the six agents on the scene, the document said. It did not identify the agent who fired the shots.

The shooting, which came one day after a federal agent shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis, prompted protests over federal agents’ aggressive tactics during immigration enforcement operations. The Department of Homeland Security has said the two people in the truck entered the U.S. illegally and were affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

None of the six agents was recording body camera footage, and investigators have uncovered no surveillance or other video footage of the shooting, FBI Special Agent Daniel Jeffreys wrote in an affidavit supporting aggravated assault and property damage charges against the driver, Luis David Nino-Moncada.

The truck drove away after the shooting, which occurred in the parking lot of a medical office building. Nino-Moncada called 911 after arriving at an apartment complex several minutes away. He was placed in FBI custody after being treated for a gunshot wound to the arm and abdomen.

During an initial appearance Monday afternoon in federal court in Portland, he wore a white sweatshirt and sweatpants and appeared to hold out his left arm gingerly at an angle. An interpreter translated the judge’s comments for him. The judge ordered that he remain in detention and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Wednesday.

The agent’s affidavit said that after being read his rights, Nino-Moncada “admitted to intentionally ramming the Border Patrol vehicle in an attempt to flee, and he stated that he knew they were immigration enforcement vehicles.”

His passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, was hospitalized after being shot in the chest and on Monday was being held at a private immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, according to an online detainee locator system maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras are Venezuela nationals and entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and 2023, respectively, the Department of Homeland Security said. It identified Nino-Moncada as an associate of Tren de Aragua and Zambrano-Contreras as involved in a prostitution ring run by the gang.

“Anyone who crosses the red line of assaulting law enforcement will be met with the full force of this Justice Department,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday in a news release announcing charges against Nino-Moncada. “This man — an illegal alien with ties to a foreign terrorist organization — should NEVER have been in our country to begin with, and we will ensure he NEVER walks free in America again.”

Oregon Federal Public Defender Fidel Cassino-DuCloux, whose office represents Nino-Moncada, did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. He told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the federal shooting of and the subsequent accusations against Nino-Moncada and his passenger follow "a well-worn playbook that the government has developed to justify the dangerous and unprofessional conduct of its agents.”

Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed last week that the pair had “some nexus” to the gang. Day said the two came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.

Zambrano-Contreras was previously arrested for prostitution, Day said, and Nino-Moncada was present when a search warrant was served in that case.

Johnson reported from Seattle.

Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)