BREVARD, N.C. — With a wink and a shake, five-year-old Ethan Brown is proud of his mullet.
The Brevard, North Carolina native is among 25 finalists in the kids' division of the USA Mullet Championships.
"The competition, everything it brings, has been a great family experience," Isaac Brown, Ethan's father, told WCNC Charlotte via a Zoom call.
Tara Brown, Ethan's mother, was also on the Zoom call, and mentioned the backstory of her son's haircut.
"My dad's had a mullet for 40-plus years," she explained. "We saw it came back in style a couple of years ago. In honor of my dad, and kind of a joke at first, we cut Ethan's hair as a mullet. It turned out so cute, and grew out some little curls we didn't know he had."
The style had become a part of finalist, who embraces it, and even uses it to his advantage at times.
"The curls grew in ... and he gets out of trouble with mother. He'll look at mom, wink his eye and shake his mullet and he's no longer in trouble. It's not fair, I can't do that," Isaac Brown joked.
USA Mullet Championships started in 2020 and offers online competitions for men, women and children.
The agency also announced online it was able to donate $3,500 to Maggie's Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan, Inc.
Voting for the finals takes place Aug. 15. Ethan Brown said he plans on donating any winnings from the competition to a group helping to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.
"Business in the front, party in the back," he said during the interview.
People interested in voting in the competition can visit the USA Mullet Championships website.