Longview is actually a city spread between Harrison County and Gregg County in Texas. This city is regarded as the commercial hub with the Longview Metropolitan Statistical Area and is 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 fatih fatih varsity games, they host several yearly events that range from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. All these events happen through the year and celebrate some aspect of sports combined with their culture.
From the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo occurs. This 3 day event is organised on the last week of January each year. The building blocks of this event was laid by way of 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 each year.
Another significant attraction in this area 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 a major attraction in this area. The big event includes many bike games, a bikers show, music and parades as well as the big attraction called the Teresi Dyno-Drag. During this interactive event, bikers test their abilities in racing and find out how fast they can really go in a quarter mile stretch.
Probably the most exciting festivals that take place in Longview would be the Alley Fest which 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 that is a 1 mile, 5K and 10K course. The newest introduction to the fest has been the Kids Marathon run where children between 5 to 12 participate in a 25.2 miles run.
The most famous among all these could be the Great Texas Balloon race that is held in the month of July each 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 has evolved into a competitive event of first class standards. This event is said to draw in 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. It 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 main newspaper publication of this area and goes back to 187. This publication carries all the local news, sports and community information.
