"The City of Lights" truly is a city second to none. Aurora, Illinois, is a truly impressive city right on the outskirts of Chicago. It earned its "City of Lights" nickname after it implemented an electric street lighting system in 1881. Aurora also boasts some very remarkable architecture designed by famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright. With a historic downtown situated right on the Fox River, the city can claim a long, cherished history. Aurora runs a cool climate most of the time, though there is substantial variation between summer and winter temperatures. The range between the record high and record low temperature is 144 degrees, and the range between the average summer highs and average summer lows is about half of that. Average summer highs reach up to the mid-80s while average winter lows drop to the mid-teens. The city receives three feet of annual precipitation, with 30 inches of average annual snowfall. This all occurs over the course of 119 precipitation days (including 19 snowy days) each year.
Aurora, especially recently, has been a remarkably fast-growing city. It was repeatedly on the list of top 50 fastest growing cities between 2000 and 2009, and the population numbers reflect that. Since 1850, Aurora has never seen a population decrease from one census to the next, and has experienced more than 20% growth for the last three decades. The 2010 population was 197,899 people, a nearly 40% increase from the 2000 level of 142,990. Aurora has a strong manufacturing economy, which means it doesn't have a predominant city employer. Caterpillar and Rush-Copley Medical Center each employ 2,000+ employees, though multiple other companies employ 1,000 or more.
Aurora has a rich cultural and entertainment scene. In addition to the Phillips Park Zoo, Aurora is home to the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago, a major Hindu temple. Paramount Theater is a famous theater actually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as is Leland Tower. The city has several more museums and historical societies, and also hosts Downtown Alive each year. Downtown Alive is a three-weekend food and live music festival that has roughly 10,000 attendees.
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