Hooray for Thornton! According to The Denver Post, with more than 100,000 people in their midst Thornton has hit “the mark of a true city.”

Of cities that had 100,000 or more people in 2004, Thornton was the 12th-fastest-growing city in the nation since 2000, according to the census numbers. It was also the fastest-growing city in Colorado with a population over 100,000.

Everybody is always talking about who’s the biggest, but we should give some love to the little guys. So I checked DRCOG’s website (Denver Regional Council of Government) to see which “city” in the Denver Metro area was the smallest. And the winner (or loser) is…Lakeside! Wait a minute. Lakeside? Are we counting people who live under “The Wild Chipmunk” roller coaster?

Apparently Lakeside qualifies for its own category as a “place.” But not all the news is bad. Lakeside might not have a lot of people, but their population decline has stabilized. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 20 people lived in Lakeside, but DRCOG has estimated that 2004 figures will show that there are still 20 people living in this “place.” I don’t know if that is an estimate or if someone just went over there and counted, but it looks like Lakeside is stable. At this rate Lakeside will surpass Thornton in, well, never. But Thornton doesn’t have “The Wild Chipmunk.” Thornton also doesn’t have its own train running around a lake, as far as I know, though with 100,000 people that development is probably inevitable. The point is, there’s more than one way to measure a city, and if we’re going by amusement parks, Lakeside is the clear winner. What’s that you say? “Water World” is in Thornton? OK, but Thornton doesn’t have “The Wild Chipmunk,” now does it?