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Yeah! We won, we won!
Wait ... what did we win?
That's a good question when it comes to topping lists and rankings. This year, Fort Collins was ranked the No. 1 "Best Place to Live" in America by Money magazine. Money magazine has been ranking places by livability on an annual basis for the past 20 years, with the exception of 2003.
The criteria have changed over the years - otherwise the same cities would likely appear each year.
For several years, the magazine stuck to featuring large cities and either ignoring small and medium-sized locales, or including them on a separate list as a sidebar. But it's really the small towns that make the interesting stories. Where large cities were often ranked by indicators such as population growth, housing cost and median household income, small cities are measured somewhat more subjectively.
So, what happens to a city when everybody suddenly knows about that uniqueness?
The good
Take Moorestown, N.J., the 2005 "Best Place to Live."
The small township of just over 19,000 was recognized for its hometown feel. Mark Morgan, president of the Moorestown Business Association and head of the Moorestown Community Theater, said the top ranking might have something to do with the fact that the mayor had a part in the township's summer production of "Oklahoma!" - a fact that was not only mentioned in the Money article, but also got some airtime on the Regis and Kelly show.
There was a small group of citizens who were not happy with the ranking. They would have preferred to keep how great the township was a secret, Morgan guessed, and it did cause a little jealousy from neighboring townships. But it did pull the community together to celebrate being No. 1.
Morgan said the township kicked off a yearlong celebration in honor of the honor - starting with a fireworks display in September 2005 that was the township's first since the 1960s. The fireworks were accompanied by township-wide block parties and followed by firstever events such as a Halloween parade and a winter carnival. Moorestown had an extra-special Fourth of July celebration this year and rounded out its year as the "Best Place to Live" with another fireworks display in September.
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