Mullets may have reached peak trendiness in the late 1980s to early 90s, but in Australia they’ve never really gone out of fashion, especially in a little town called Kurri Kurri where they’re as hot as ever.
About 45 minutes from Newcastle in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia, lies Kurri Kurri, a small town, home to the Chelmsford Hotel which is running their inaugural Mullet Fest.
Event organiser and local hairdresser Laura Johnson is setting out to find the best mullet in the area and competition is fierce.
This upcoming Saturday will see 154 mulleted men and women competing against each other at the hotel as they flaunt their barnet hoping to be crowned the winner.
Entries had to be closed early due to an overwhelming response of applications – it’s clearly the most popular hairstyle in Hunter Valley.
And as Laura told Vice, the competition is the talk of the town:
I’ve never seen Kurri like this.
Even all the people in my yoga class are coming and they’re not exactly the kind of people who care about mullets.
Points will be awarded to contestants based on presentation, mullet backstory, and personality as displayed on the catwalk.
Story is particularly important, because it takes many years to precure the perfect party out back.
There are several categories contestants can enter including Juniors, Ladies, Rangers, and Everyday Mullet.
My personal favourite is the Grubby Mullet contest which celebrates the kind of person who shaves off everything except the hair on the back of their head.
Once all these winners have been announced one contestant will be crowned of having the ‘BEST mullet of them ALL’.
And what do you get for the person with the best mullet of them all? A date with the guy with the best mullet of them all, Billy Ray Cyrus.
Laura said:
Well, that’s something I’m organising at the moment. But I’m pretty sure he’s onboard.
Three judges will deliver the final ruling which is basically the be all and end all when it comes to mullets.
Dan Brown, who’s known as ‘The Mullet Lord’ locally and claims to have invented the hairdo, is one of the judges.
Laura added:
He’s got such a glorious mullet. And then there’s our local MP Meryl Swanson and another guy named Brett.
And that’s it. They’re our judges.
Lots of the old guys say the mullet was invented here, so that’s how we came up with the idea. My friend Sarah and I were talking about how we could save the town [it’s been facing economic headwinds since the closure of their aluminium smelter six years ago] and Sarah said we should have a competition called Mullet Fest and I agreed and now I just can’t believe the response.
We can’t wait to see which mullet wins.
