Springfields celebrate ‘Simpsons’

SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – With a bowling alley, a pub, a prison and a nuclear power plant just down the road, Springfield, Vt., likes to think itself a real-life version of the home of “The Simpsons.”

Now, the town is going all out to prove it, joining 13 other Springfields from across the nation in a contest, with the winner hosting the big-screen premiere of “The Simpsons Movie” on July 26.

The public will choose the winner through a USA Today online ballot. Voting ends July 9, with the winner announced the next day.

The competition is stiff.

Springfield, Ill., has its own power plant, run by a man who looks a lot like Mr. Burns, head of the nuclear plant on “The Simpsons,” says Tim Farley, executive director of the Illinois’ Springfield Convention and Visitors’ Bureau.

The school is identical and the city is not far from Shelbyville, the town next to Homer Simpson’s Springfield, he adds.

But folks in Springfield, Ore. – the home state of “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening – always thought it was their Springfield on the Fox TV show.

“It was a shock, that we had to prove it,” says Niel Laudati, community relations coordinator.