The picturesque town of Springfield in the hills of Vermont laid claim to be the home of The Simpsons at the weekend as its residents became the first people to see the feature film at a characteristically quirky premiere.

The Vermont town, once famous for its machine-tooling industry, was chosen from 14 Springfields across America to host the premiere. Residents donned mustard-yellow T-shirts and blue wigs, munched pink doughnuts and exclaimed “D’oh!” as they filed into the 212-seat local cinema to watch The Simpsons Movie a week earlier than everyone else.

Seth Kimball, 22, a mechanical engineer, who was at the first screening, said: “There was a lot of laughter through the whole thing.” Stan Rumrill, 18, said: “The story was pretty good too. That is what I really worried about – if they could last one and a half hours.”

The location of the cartoon Springfield has always been a mystery. In the film it is described as lying in a geographically impossible state bordered by Ohio, Nevada, Maine and Kentucky. The makers held a contest among all the Springfields in America to host the premiere. The townspeople in Vermont won with a video spoof of Homer Simpson being chased through the streets by a giant pink-frosted doughnut.

Robert Smith, editor of the local newspaper The Message of the Week, said that the Vermont Springfield bore several similarities to the cartoon town. “It’s a small town where everybody knows everybody. We have got the empty factories and we have got the nuclear power plant. We sure as hell have a lot of Bart Simpsons hanging around.”

Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, said: “I believe Springfield, Vermont, is probably nicer in every way than the Springfield in the TV show.”

The film – which is produced by Twentieth Century Fox, part of the Fox Entertainment Group, majority owned by The News Corporation, parent company of The Times – goes on general release on Friday.

Explore Film

• Film Reviews

• Trailers

• DVD

• Oscars

• Cannes

Editor's choice

• U2 at Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette