UPDATED: 12-year-old Arkansas boy advances in USA Mullet Championships

Rowan Bell (USA Mullet Championships)
UPDATE: Bell has advanced to the Top 25, according to a social media post. “We will now take a short break before the Final round takes place,” the post stated. “Voting will happen on our website (Date-TBD).”

A 12-year-old boy from Wesley has advanced to the second round of the USA Mullet Championships.

Rowan Bell has been growing his hair for over two years in hopes of winning the contest, said Bell’s cousin Christy Bennett in a social media post on Friday.

“He is definitely the All-American Boy and definitely owns his mullet!” Bennett said. “He is the best Lego builder I know, loves to kayak, can build anything you can ever imagine out of scraps, loves 3-D printing, can play the guitar like a boss, is an avid reader, and is hilarious like his father especially when he breaks out his Austrailian accent!”

Bell is competing for a $2,500 prize in the Top 100 Kids Age 1-12 category. Bell told KFSM if he wins, he will donate $100 of his prize money to Seven Hills Homeless Center in Fayetteville and use the remainder for engineering projects.

Online voting ends Sunday, July 24 at 11:59 p.m. Users can vote for Bell by liking his photo on the contest’s Facebook page. As of Sunday morning, Bell had received nearly 3,000 likes.

The 2021 kids category winner was Allan Baltz from Jonesboro, who received 25,178 likes.