Springfield Vermont was once home to a powerful machine tool industry.\
That success was so well-known, the town was on Hitler's top 10 list of US Cities to bomb in World War II.
While Springfield isn't famous like it once was, town officials are hoping that may change as soon as tomorrow.
That's when it hosts the world premiere of the new Simpsons movie.
The Vermont Standard's Kevin Forrest reports.
Homer Simpson – Oh man—this is the most exciting thing I’ve seen since Halley’s Comet collided with the moon!
Drive through Springfield, Vermont’s usually-dead downtown and the excitement is palpable.
Storefronts bear colorful welcoming signs.
Local characters have donned bright yellow costumes.
The hometown radio station and newspapers buzz with references to The Simpsons.
Springfielders are all agog over their town’s selection over 13 other Springfields as the site for the premiere of the new Simpsons movie.
Bob Flint – We’ve had our share of bad luck and things happened here over the years and in many ways our psyche has been a little challenged. To win something on a national stage, and to beat Springfield Illinois and Springfield Massachusetts and Springfield, Oregon and these other places—(yells) Wow! We Won!
That’s Bob Flint, Springfield’s most unabashed cheerleader.
As head of the town’s development authority, he’s led the struggle to bolster a local economy that still reels from the demise of a powerful machine tool industry in the 1980s.
It was that industry’s success that made Springfield a bombing target of Nazi Germany. Now Flint has scored the equivalent of winning the megabucks.
Flint - The amount of media coverage we’ve received is worth millions of dollars.
The Connecticut River valley town of 9,300 was a last-minute entry in 20th Century Fox’s promotional contest to see which Springfield in the U.S. would host the movie premiere. The popular animated television series with its dysfunctional but lovable family takes place in a Springfield of unspecified location—at least until now.
Flint says things happened quickly after town officials huddled with the Vermont Film Commission and quickly produced a winning video.
Flint – Bada Bing Bada Boom! We Win! And then the world changes.
Springfield’s Chamber of Commerce is at the center of the excitement.
President (?)Patty Chaffee is generally acknowledged as the engine that powered the successful campaign.
Now, just days before the premier, she’s garnered rock star status .
Chaffee – The phone’s been ringing off the hook from different people all around the world looking for an interview, so that’s very exciting.
(Ambient sound – elderly men chatting)
But not every single Springfield resident is seething with excitement.
A group of retired businessmen who gather daily in a basement beneath a main street storefront wondered about the fuss.
Paul Chiconowicz has never watched the Simpsons and believes Springfield’s newest honor will bear only short-term fruit.
Chiconowicz - Temporarily it might give something a boost—but I don’t know what. At least they’re patching the sidewalks, cleaning up the streets a little bit.
(ambient sound – people talking in a restaurant)
Twelve-year-old Jill Rushton and her 13-year-old friend Alex Johnstone finish up their breakfasts in the local Friendly’s restaurant.
You’d expect them to be excited about the premiere.
But Rushton says her friends aren’t the only ones
Jill – Yeah, my mom was talking about for like an hour straight and I had to tell her to stop talking about it because she was just going on and on about how excited she was.
The town’s promoters are quick to point out that Springfield had already come a long way from its worst economic doldrums.
They point to new stores, revived industry and a new school bond project.
Chafee thinks the Simpsons phenomenon will build on these.
Chaffee – I think it will have a long-lasting effect. I think we’ll see people that will just travel here to see the winning town and see all the great things we do have to offer here.
Meanwhile the town is expecting up to five to ten thousand visitors to stream into its streets Saturday.
Police are scrambling to accommodate security and parking concerns.
Contests and lotteries are doling out precious movie passes to the several showings at the town’s tiny theatre.
And even Simpsons creator Matt Groehning is expected to show up - along with other celebrities.
Homer – And that’s my cue to exit.
For NHPR news, this is Kevin Forrest
Read how the local organizers of this event in Springfield, Vt. mistreated its own volunteer actors and extras in their winning video after the big win.
http://vtvid.110mb.com/3.html