Super fans across planet coming to Metropolis festival

METROPOLIS, Ill. -- Superman fan Steve Younis lives in Australia, but this town along Illinois' Kentucky border is the only place he wants to be this weekend.

The town of 6,800 is hosting its annual Superman Festival through Sunday, a time for mingling, memorabila-trading and games for Superman fans the world over.

The 164-year-old town near Paducah, Ky., has no real connection to the comic-book hero, aside from the happy accident of sharing the name of the character's fictitious home city.

But that doesn't bother Younis, who traveled from Sydney for the event. To him, it's a near-sacred pilgrimage.

Metropolis "is a mecca for Superman fans," Younis, who hosts a Web site for Superman fans, said Thursday. "We've got to get here at least once."

At first glance, there's little to distinguish the town along the Ohio River from any of the others in rural Southern Illinois.

It has a town square, complete with a courthouse, and could always use more business to provide more jobs.

But it doesn't take long for visitors to see something's different.

The courthouse sits next to a 15-foot bronze statue of Superman, and is across the street from the storefront Superman Museum. The offices of the local newspaper, The Metropolis Planet, aren't far away.

Organizers started hosting the festival in 1978, on the tail of the first popular "Superman" movie.

They had convinced the Illinois Legislature in 1972 to declare Metropolis Superman's official hometown, hoping the declaration would spur tourism in the poorest part of the state.

"It's the only city in America with the Metropolis name," said David Olsen of Atlanta, who has attended the festival for eight years. "Anyone who's a true Superman fan knows they have to come here," he said.

On "good" years, about 25,000 have attended the festival, said organizer Becky Lambert. On a light year, about 15,000 would come, she said.

This year, fans will be treated to the usual collection of carnival rides, children's' games, food booths and a memorabilia auction, besides a visit by Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane in the 1953 television series, "The Adventures of Superman," Lambert said.