Don'ut do it

The home town of everyone's favourite yellow family - Springfield, is so called as it summed up the ‘Everyman' nature of the programme, and there is a town by that name in almost every state in America - and in other parts of the world Springfield is a tourist attraction too - but the New Zealand town's main attraction - a giant Simpsons doughnut - now hangs in the balance...

What do a doughnut and the Eiffel Tower have in common? Not much you might think - but the Simpsons tourist attraction doughnut in the town of Springfield in the Selwyn District of Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand,was also originally meant to be temporary, much like Paris' most famous landmark.

Both were unveiled in order to mark an occasion. The doughnut was given a six-week residency to promote the premiere of The Simpsons Movie in July 2007.

But, the 3.5-metre-diameter doughnut proved so popular with locals and tourists that the Springfield Township Committee applied for it to remain permanently.

But, as usual, the attraction had its critics - some of the townsfolk believed it to be a blot on the town's landscape and didn't want to be associated with American cartoons about dysfunctional families.

So, one arson attack later, the Springfield doughnut is toast. It happened on the very day that a hearing into its future was being held, to decide if it should remain or leave the town for good.

The doughnut is one of the most photographed attractions in New Zealand (!) so many, especially those who run businesses linked to tourism, such as hotels and restaurants, were keen for it to stay and continue to bring in the tourists.

The Township committee chairman Bill Woods said, "There's an additional hole in the doughnut."

"It will be rebuilt, maybe this time out of concrete," he added.

We may well laugh, but its quirky tourist attractions such as this that attract the much needed visitors to small town New Zealand, so the doughnut is now going to be the subject of hot discussion at the next township committee meeting...

Picture by jcesar