Longview is a city spread between Harrison County and Gregg County in Texas. This city is considered to be the commercial hub with the Longview Metropolitan Statistical Area and it is one of its principle cities. Having a population of around 77,000 people, Longview features a majority population led by Whites, Hispanics, Native Americans, African Americans, Pacific Islanders and Asians respectively.
The Longview sports scene is fairly different and unconventional. Aside from the regular collegiate sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer and other varsity games, they host several annual events that range from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. All these events take place through the year and celebrate some aspect of sports coupled with their culture.
From the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo takes place. This three day event is held on the last week of January every year. The foundation of this event was laid by the people who own Longview Marines, Gene Brady and Dale Clark and has been active since 1982. This expo brings RVs, yachts, boats and motorcycles, ATVs from all of across East Texas in one location drawing almost over 10,000 attendees annually.
Another significant attraction in this region would be the Annual Memorial Day Motorcycle rally. This rally brings individual bikers and motorcycle riders and such clubs from all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. This event began in 2006 and has been an important attraction in this region. The event includes numerous bike games, a bikers show, music and parades as well as the big attraction known as the Teresi Dyno-Drag. During this interactive event, bikers test their abilities in racing and find out how fast they could really go in a quarter mile stretch.
Probably the most exciting festivals that take place in Longview would be the Alley Fest that is held at the onset 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 has been the Kids Marathon run where children between the ages of 5 to 12 participate in a 25.2 miles run.
The most famous amongst every one of these could be the Great Texas Balloon race which 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 over the launch of the Longview Mall as a giant celebration. It carried on thereafter and it has evolved into a competitive event of first class standards. This event is considered to attract world class hot air balloon pilots from all around the globe and consists of balloon fights and balloon glows. An added attraction in this event is always to see how these balloons get inflated and handled. This is an event that is held in association with the North American Balloon Association and invites eighty special sport balloons.
The Longview News Journal is the main newspaper publication of this area and dates back to 187. This publication carries all the local news, sports and community details.