Yahoo News Wild mullet-wearing farmers descend on Blackpool and spend £60k on kebabs but police don't mind
It has become one of the biggest, and most notorious, weekends in Blackpool's calendar.
More than 6,000 'maniac' mullet-sporting young farmers descended upon the seaside town over May bank holiday weekend. As clubs coated their floors in sawdust in preparation, with them, they brought chaos and £60,000 to spend on kebabs.
The DIY Young Farmers AGM (Annual General Meeting) took over the British seaside resort to let their questionable hair-dos down and replace combine harvesters with good craic, reports the Daily Star.
Farmers travelled from all corners of the country and even flew over from Ireland for the three-day bender, which saw performances from rapping farmer Dpart, YouTuber chats and DJ sets from Ultrabeat that all started at 11am and would wrap up the following morning.
READ MORE
A centuries-old Pendle Witches mystery could be over as archaeologists uncover 'best contender ever'
Sam Hargreaves, from Preston, who is one of the organisers and founder of Tweedl, decided to capture the 'off their head' farmers on camera and now their rowdy shenanigans have shot to viral fame.
Speaking to the Daily Star about the wild weekend, Sam chuckled: "Put it this way, if you're Blackpool you would have known they were there. They're lunatics, they're off their head. They're covered in sawdust. There's a video currently going viral of the floor in the nightclub and everyone is thinking it's mud on the floor."
"But, it's not. All of our venues out of their choice put sawdust down on the floor, which I know sounds barbaric.
"Every morning they put a dusting of sawdust on the floor just to soak up any spillages it's not mud just to set the record straight. A lot of people were saying its cow muck, it's really not."
One video managed to rack up an impressive 1.2million views on TikTok, garnering a lot of attention thanks to an array of extreme mullets on show. One lad wearing a blue top completely shaved his barnet apart from a strip in the middle that led to a rather curly bush at the back.
Others went for a more classic mullet with shorter sides, a twirly fringe and the fuller hair on the back of their head. Despite mullets being huge in the farming world, Sam doesn't really know why. But, he does suspect that some dodgy cuts were done on the streets of Blackpool.
He laughed: "It's class, mullets have just swept the nation. I think some of them must have taken razors to Blackpool just to cut one in for the weekend some of them were just absolutely atrocious.
"I don't know what it is about mullets, but bring the 70s back I suppose."
But, if it wasn't the mullets catching eyes, the t-shirts with some very sexual undertones were certain to raise an eyebrow or two. And if their appearance didn't, their raucous behaviour certainly did. The TikTok comment section was left inundated with comments claiming that young farmers are badly behaved.
Previously, the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs cancelled their annual AGM in 2018 after bouts of bad behaviour.
Resurrecting the yearly weekend with their own DIY version, Sam acknowledges there might be a bit of damage like the occasional smashed glass but he urged that no one is out to intentionally cause 'chaos'.
Carnage or not, the event brings a lot of money into Blackpool as the nation's wider nighttime economy struggles to stay afloat the farmers were said to have even spent £60,000 in one kebab shop alone.
"Blackpool is a town that accommodates us and they certainly should because the farmers spend a lot of money that weekend," Sam said.
He continued: "Every hotel is booked up, you can't get a taxi and we know there's a takeaway that took £60,000 in kebabs and pizza over the weekend. A ridiculous amount of money is brought into the economy, and they do recognise that."
"They're crazy people but they're there to have a laugh we have meetings with the councils, meetings with the police and the managers with each place we work with."
"On Sunday night we spoke to the police and we said are you happy and they said 'absolutely, they're maniacs but they're here to have fun not here to cause trouble' and that's the reality of it. We all know the benefits as a community we are bringing to the town and everybody knows we are there to have a laugh that is literally it."
The events are held throughout a number of venues in Blackpool including Winter Gardens and nightclub Popworld and mainly focus on boozing.
But, for many farmers, it's a chance for them to socialise away from what can be an isolating job and way of life.
Sam shared that a lot of them live on "top of a hill" far from any other civilisation, so the DIY Young Farmers AGM is one of the few moments a year they can truly enjoy themselves.
Sam explained: "It's a party, it's a time for the young farmers to get away from the farm to socialise. There's a lot of these farmers who live on the top of a hill miles and miles from any shop, pub or social environment."
"Farmers just generally spend a lot of their time on their own whether that be sat on a tractor or out on the farm."
"So massive gatherings of farmers don't happen, so for us to be able to do that and be a part of it, I feel very special."
Ever since the video went viral on TikTok, the young farmers have been chastised for their boozy behaviour. But, Sam recalled how young farmers need a release from the job that demands long and unsociable hours.
According to the Office of National Statistics, 36 suicides out of the 5,566 that were recorded in England and Wales were among the farming and agricultural industry in 2021.
Additionally, in a survey by the Farm Safety Foundation, 'hundreds' of farmers (94%) under 40 admitted that 'poor mental health is the biggest hidden problem' in the industry. Sam wants people to understand that one weekend of 'maniac' young farmers 'running riot' can do more good than harm.
He concluded: "A massive thing in farming is mental health, the suicide rate in farming is massive and so it's important for everyone to have the opportunity to come together from all corners of the country."
"Farmers don't get out a lot. Without farmers, there wouldn't be any food on the table for everybody that goes home and cooks tea, there wouldn't be a single bit of food on the table."
"So for them to have one weekend where they can just run riot, spend a lot of money, don't cause too much trouble and why would there ever be any hate behind that that's what I want people to know."
