A Real-Life Tourist Attraction Is Celebrating Its ‘Simpsons’ Notoriety

While much of The Simpsons is set in Springfield, the show did occasionally venture beyond the fictional (but not that fictional) town’s border, past even Shelbyville and Capitol City. As a result, a number of real-world locations have been featured on the show, one of the most memorable being Knoxville, Tennessee's Sunsphere — aka the Wigsphere.

The seventh season episode “Bart on the Road” finds Bart, Milhouse, Nelson and Martin going on a spring break road trip after renting a car using Bart’s illicit, unlaminated driver’s license. When it comes time to decide on a destination, the gang rejects options such as Macon, Georgia, the Bridges of Madison County and Disney World. Instead, after Milhouse finds a 1982 AAA Guide Book in the glove compartment, they decide to journey to “the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee,” home of the glorious “Sunsphere,” which sits atop a “266-foot tall steel shaft” and contains an awe-inspiring information desk. 

But when the kids finally get to Knoxville, they discover that the World’s Fair is long gone, and the Sunsphere is now a decrepit storage space for a local wig store. If that wasn’t bad enough, the “Wigsphere” eventually collapses and totals Bart’s rental car.

The Sunsphere wasn’t an invention of the show, it’s a real building that was constructed for the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair, which, just as Milhouse claimed, really did feature the world’s largest Rubik’s Cube. 

But even in the ‘90s, the Sunsphere wasn’t falling apart as the show suggested, although, when “Bart on the Road” aired in 1996, Knoxville was still figuring out what to do with the former World’s Fair site. With their plans stalled, The Simpsons episode only angered locals. As The Washington Post reported at the time, “Knoxville officials were not amused” by the show, noting that “the Sunsphere is still in fine health and a million visitors a year use the site’s facilities.” 

But despite this past controversy, the Sunsphere is now embracing its association with The Simpsons. Some have actually argued that the show inadvertently “saved the Sunsphere” by inspiring fans to “flock to the structure.”

Last year, Knox County’s commissioner proclaimed that the Sunsphere was going to be turned into a Simpsons museum. While this was just an April Fool’s Day joke, the newly-renovated Sunsphere observation deck now contains a mini-exhibit commemorating its cartoon infamy, complete with an original copy of the “Bart on the Road” script, and a replica of Milhouse’s AAA Guide Book.

According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, the Sunsphere is also selling “Wigsphere” stickers and postcards. 

Of course, if the Sunsphere staff really wanted to please Simpsons fans, they’d clear everything else out and fill the observation deck with 16,000 boxes of unsold wigs.