The Real Springfield

Vermont town voted Simpsons home

The US town of Springfield, Vermont, has beaten 13 rivals and will host the premiere of the film about the animated family The Simpsons. The show is set in a fictional Springfield because its creator, Matt Groening, spotted that it is one of the most common place-names in the US.

Vermont was chosen in an online vote after 14 towns submitted videos to argue why their town should win.

The premiere is on 21 July, ahead of national US release on 27 July.

Vermont's Springfield beat rivals ranging from Oregon on the west coast to Massachusetts on the Atlantic.

The town of just over 9,000 residents got 15,367 votes, beating the Illinois entry by 733, according to USA Today, which conducted the poll.

The other contenders were in the states of Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee.

Video parodies

"We're so excited," said Patricia Chaffee, vice-president of the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce in Vermont.

"We came in at the last minute, and for us to win, we feel like the underdogs, which makes this so big and so great for us," she told USA Today.

The video entry from Illinois featured the general manager of the local power plant, Todd Renfrow, whose appearance is similar to that of Montgomery Burns, the villain and power plant owner in the show.

Over in Kentucky, a scene was filmed portraying creator Groening in a courtroom, hearing how the cartoon was based on their town.

And Senator Edward Kennedy was recruited for the recording by Springfield, Massachusetts, even though he is regularly mocked in the series.

Before the vote, Tim Farley, executive director at the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau in Illinois, said: "We always really did think we were the one.

"The similarities between the cartoon and Springfield are really uncanny," he told Reuters.

But he said that whatever the outcome, all of the towns were "winners".

"It's made a lot of Springfields more popular than they may have been before," he said.