Longview news journal and sporting events
Longview is a city spread between Harrison County and Gregg County in Texas. This city is considered to be the commercial hub for the Longview Metropolitan Statistical Area and it is one of its principle cities. With a population of approximately 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 fairly different and unconventional. Aside from the regular college sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer as well as other varsity games, they host several annual events that vary from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. Each one of these events happen through the year and celebrate some aspect of sports coupled with their culture.
In the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo occurs. This 3 day event is held around the last week of January every year. The foundation of the event was laid by way of 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 in one location drawing almost over 10,000 attendees annually.
Yet another major attraction in this region is 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 began in 2006 and it has been an important attraction in this area. The event includes numerous bike games, a bikers show, music and parades as well as the big attraction known as the Teresi Dyno-Drag. In this interactive event, bikers test their abilities in racing and find out how quickly they could really go in a quarter mile stretch.
Probably the most interesting festivals that take place in Longview is the Alley Fest that 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 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 all these is the Great Texas Balloon race that is held in the month of July every year at the East Texas Regional Airport. This event is regarded 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 continued thereafter and has grown 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 consists 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 in this area and dates back to 187. This publication carries all of the local news, sports and community information.