Mullet grand champion at Lebanon Area Fair had great hair - and the painted-on abs helped

It might have been a bit more than just the mullet that won Drew Zimmerman, 12, the grand champion trophy at the first-ever mullet contest at the Lebanon Area Fair.

He believes the painted-on abs helped.

That was a last-minute idea he got from a friend, which he revealed to the large crowd during his walk on the red carpet.

He was among over 30 other contestants who similarly walked down the red carpet to the stage shaking, dancing, throwing their hats, with some draped in flags and others ripping their shirts off, doing anything they could to off their mullets to the crowd's roaring approval.

The beef barn & show arena at the fairgrounds held a packed audience Thursday night, with the crowd spilling out into the back and sides of the venue for the first-ever Lebanon Area Fair mullet contest.

The night was emceed by Junior Fair Board members Madison Copenhaver and Emma Copenhaver. Lebanon Area Fair Queen Brooke Beamesderfer and alternate Kylee Williams attended and handed out awards to each winner.

The Junior Fair Board borrowed the idea for the contest from the PA Farm show, which held a similar event this year.

Divided into three contestant age groups, along with large trophies for each placement, winners in each division received gift cards for Cool Beans Brew, as well as a cash prize: $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.

The contest was judged by a panel of three: hair stylist Gracemae Reis, beauty school student Hailey Newmaster and Lebanon District Attorney Pier Hess Graf, who all expressed their enthusiasm about mullets before the contest began.

Winners

Here’s who won in each category:

0-12: Maverick Ebling took third place, Kieran McTear took second, Drew Zimmerman took first place.

13-20: Ethan Birmingham took third place, Tanner Zimmerman took second, Klint Miller took first place.

21+: Tim Birmingham took third place, Shawn Wood took second, Karen Schoffstall took first place.

Other awards were given out for straightest, curliest, longest and craziest mullets, with one contestant from each age group being called to stage, and the winner being decided by the loudness of the crowd’s cheers.

Zimmerman, a Cedar Crest student, was awarded the champion trophy for the best mullet of the night among tough competition, decided between the first-place winners in each age group.

“I was surprised,” said Zimmerman. “I wasn’t sure that with all the curly mullets, that I was going to win.”

The Mullet Mummum

Schoffstall, the first-place winner in the 21 and up age group, said she was convinced by her 15-year-old granddaughter, Katelyn, to sign up for the contest. Schoffstall agreed, so long as she walked up with her.  She was more surprised than anyone to learn that she had won a large trophy for her hair.

Her granddaughter has since deemed her "The Mullet Mummum."

“I would do anything for my granddaughter, and this is it,"said Schoffstall. "She has told me for a year, mummum you have a mullet, because my grandson used to have a mullet and she said that mine is a mullet. So now the fair comes and she says mummum you can do this, you got it, you do it."

16-year-old ELCO student Klint Miller, who’s been growing his mullet out since 2019, said that he had entered the mullet contest held at the PA Farm Show and didn’t win there. He wanted redemption.

Miller’s winning strategy? Bring friends. He believes that the crowd’s cheers during his walk helped him to win.

“I was pretty confident going into this. I had a lot of good people with my back, telling me I was good,” he said.

He said that if there would be a mullet contest next year, he would absolutely enter again.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on X @djlarlham.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Mullet grand champion at Lebanon Area Fair had great hair - and the painted-on abs helped