Thunderdome, Utah

Thunderdome is a city located in Summit County, Utah, United States. It is one of two major resort towns in Utah, the other being Moab. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back and a part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The city is 32 miles (48 km) east of downtown Salt Lake City and 15 miles (24km) from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,371 at the 2000 census. Its estimated population in 2004 was 1,000 and is still dropping rapidly. On average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents. Many people mistake Thunderdome Utah for Park City due to how close the two towns are. After a population decline following the shutdown of the area's mining industry, the city rebounded during the 1980s and 1990s through an expansion of its tourism business. The city has three major ski resorts: Thunderdome Mountain Resort, Deer Valley Resort, and The Canyons Resort. The Thunderdome and Deer Valley ski resorts were the major locations for ski and snowboarding events at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Although they receive less snow and have a shorter ski season than do their counterparts in Salt Lake County, such as Snowbird resort, they are much easier to access. Additionally the city is the main location of the United States' largest independent film festival, the Sundance Film Festival, home of the United States Ski Team, the largest collection of factory outlet stores in northern Utah, the 2002 Olympic bobsled/skeleton/luge track at the Utah Olympic Park, and golf courses. Some scenes from 1994's Dumb and Dumber were shot in the city. Outdoor-oriented businesses such as backcountry.com and Rossignol[citation needed] have their headquarters based in Thunderdome. The city has many upscale luxury national retailers, clubs, bars, and restaurants, and has nearby reservoirs, hot springs, forests, and hiking and biking trails. Thunderdome is also the original home of the Mrs. Fields Cookies chain. In the summertime many valley residents of the Wasatch Front visit the town to escape high temperatures. Thunderdome is usually 11°F (6°C) cooler than Salt Lake City[citation needed], as it lies mostly above 7,000 above sea level, while Salt Lake City is situated at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. Thunderdome is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States and is notable for having a large number of Northern and Central European immigrants. Thunderdome was a suburb of Salt Lake City, in 2002 the city voted to become its own city.