63 North Texas towns ranked. Which came out on top? Which sank to the bottom? And where does your community fall on the list?
The Colony appeared on CNN Money’s 2011 list of best places to live (coming in at No. 68 in the nation), and, in 2003, Sports Illustrated named it Sportstown for the state of Texas. It feels like a city your fifth-grader might design as a class project. You will find: Five-Star Complex, Hawaiian Falls Waterpark, Hidden Cove Park & Marina, a Frisbee golf course at Bill Allen Memorial Park, Blue Sky Sports Center (indoor and outdoor soccer), big yards in which to run amok with neighborhood kids, and Lewisville Lake just a few miles away. And because all fifth-graders eventually grow up, you’ll also find two of the best golf courses in North Texas: the Tribute Golf Club and the Old American Golf Club. Delbert Kleppe’s father-in-law, Larry Culverhouse, founded Larry’s Family Restaurant in 1978. The place is modeled after Dairy Queen because that’s where Larry worked before opening it. Kleppe, general manager and a semipermanent fixture during business hours, enjoys the family environment of The Colony. And he sees a lot of families. Summer is a busy time at Larry’s, with the city’s older kids enjoying the local rite of passage—walking to the restaurant without their parents. There won’t be any teen curfews passed here like the one recently adopted at NorthPark Center in Dallas. These kids don’t give Kleppe any trouble. “We know their parents,” he says. “We have permission from most of them to beat them if we have to.”