Maybe it was the pink doughnut. Maybe it was the clever homemade video, or small-town charm. Maybe Homer just figured it was time to go green.
Whatever the reason, this much is true: Tiny Springfield, Vt., beat out 13 other like-named cities Tuesday for the right to host the premiere of "The Simpsons Movie," winning an online poll it wasn't even invited to participate in. On July 21, the town's 100-seat movie theater will play host to the movie, which opens July 27.
"Vermont wins," read the purple lettering beside the doughnut-chomping patriarch of America's favorite dysfunctional family on "The Simpsons Movie Springfield Challenge" Web site. "Ninety-three hundred people, and we won," said an exultant Town Manager Bob Forguites. "I think it's pretty neat, myself.
" Springfields in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon and Tennessee also made bids, submitting videos meant to show how much their cities are like the fictional Springfield in "The Simpsons." Vermont's Springfield - which has a bowling alley, a pub, a prison and a nuclear power plant just down the road - wasn't initially part of the contest, but a local chamber of commerce executive appealed to movie producer 20th Century Fox and the race was on. The video was posted on the contest Web site along with the other entries.
By midnight Monday, the deadline, 109,582 votes were cast. Vermont got 15,367, edging out Springfield, Ill., Maybe it was the pink doughnut.
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