I live in Vermont, so of course I was excited yesterday when I learned that Springfield Vermont had won the nation-wide contest to host the premiere of the Simpsons movie. A total of 13 Springfields from around the country entered the contest and made Simpsons-like movies to convince the judges that their respective Springfield would be the ideal place to host the upcoming movie. Springfield Vermont won with a video depicting a Homer-like fellow chasing a giant pink doughnut through the town and wreaking havoc. All the videos can be seen here.
Thru-out the 18 seasons of “The Simpsons”, the location of the fictional town has never been revealed. The creators have often frustrated the audience by cutting the scene just before the state would be named, leaving them to wonder which town Matt Groneing had in mind when he conceived the show. If Springfield Vermont is, indeed the place, is hard to say. There is no Shelbyville nearby, but the town is not too far from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power-plant, and the vermont climate does seem to fit with the show. Perhaps we will never know for sure, but I sure look forward to seeing the movie in my home state.
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Wow Cliff,
I’m surprised, because I always thought the Simpsons’ was based in Springfield, Mass. I found the following excerpt on a West Springfield, Mass news site:
“The Simpsons’ series drawn locations that look suspiciously like the city’s armory and Memorial Bridge, but it has boasted a producer from West Springfield and a Springfield resident who plays in a rock band that has been on the show. And the Springfield, Mass.”
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I always thought it was in Springfield MA too. Either that or Springfield IL. Springfield IL is even close to another town called Shelbyville.
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I find this really funny, because I grew up in Springfield Vt, and I just don’t see the connection. At all.
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I am one of 200 volunteers who appeared in the winning Springfield Vermont video. After we helped our local Chamber of Commerce win the contest, they turned their backs on us. We should have been the first in town to be invited to view the world premiere of The Simpsons Movie but instead we were kept off the invitation list so the more elite members of the community could all be invited instead. And then not even a word of thanks or mention of us in the public ceremony outside the theater. Read more and view our famous winning video now at our new website:
The Simpsons Springfield Vermont
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Was watching one of the shows today that gets rerun daily by the local Fox network in my city. The show shows Lisa competing in a Reader’s Digest sponsored Essay contest for a trip to Washington, DC. In the show it is showing competitions across the country while scrolling over a map of the country. It doesn’t state the full name of the state, but you can make out the last 2 letters before the screen fades to Lisa. It shows “NT” (Vermont?). The other interesting things is that Springfield, Vermont has interesting residents that have lived there, such as Senator Flanders and others. It’s next to a city named Spoonerville (close to Shelbyville). I think there are a lot of references to things that could be similar to Vermont. Plus it won out among all the other cities to host the premiere of the show. I for one am thinking it could be Vermont, but of course not having lived or visited there, I can only go off of other references.