Longview is actually a city spread between Harrison County and Gregg County in Texas. This city is regarded as the commercial hub for the Longview Metropolitan Statistical Area and is considered one of its principle cities. Having a population of around 77,000 people, Longview has a majority population led by Whites, Hispanics, Native Americans, African Americans, Pacific Islanders and Asians respectively.
The Longview sports scene is quite different and unconventional. Aside from the regular collegiate sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer and other varsity games, they host a number of yearly events that range from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. Each one of these events happen through the year and celebrate some facet of sports coupled with their culture.
In the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo takes place. This 3 day event is organised around the last week of January each year. The foundation of this event was laid by the people who own Longview Marines, Gene Brady and Dale Clark and it has been active since 1982. This expo brings RVs, yachts, boats and motorcycles, ATVs from all across East Texas under one roof drawing almost over 10,000 attendees each year.
Another major attraction in this area would be the Annual Memorial Day Motorcycle rally. This rally brings individual bikers and motorcycle riders and such clubs coming from all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. This event started in 2006 and it has been an important attraction in this area. The big event includes numerous bike games, a bikers show, music and parades and the big attraction called the Teresi Dyno-Drag. In this interactive event, bikers test their abilities in racing to see how quickly they can really go in a quarter mile stretch.
One of the most interesting festivals that take place in Longview is the Alley Fest which is held at the start of summer. This fest began in 1978 and hosts an art show, a music festival, a food contest as well as a marathon run which is a 1 mile, 5K and 10K course. The newest introduction to the fest is the Kids Marathon run where children between the ages of 5 to 12 take part in a 25.2 miles run.
The most popular among every one of these could be the Great Texas Balloon race that is held in the month of July every year at the East Texas Regional Airport. This event is considered as the “longest running hot-air balloon race in Texas”. This race began in 1978 during the launch of the Longview Mall as being a giant celebration. It carried on thereafter and it has grown into a competitive event of first class standards. This event is said to attract world class hot air balloon pilots from all around the globe and comprises of balloon fights and balloon glows. The added attraction in this event is to observe how these balloons get inflated and operated. This is an event which is held in association with the North American Balloon Association and invites eighty special sport balloons.
The Longview News Journal is the major newspaper publication of this area and goes back to 187. This publication carries all the local news, sports and community details.
