Longview news diary and sporting events
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 it is considered 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 quite different and unconventional. Apart from the regular college sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer as well as other varsity games, they host several yearly events that vary from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. Each one of 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 organised on 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 of across East Texas under one roof drawing almost over 10,000 attendees each year.
Yet 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 has been a major attraction in this region. The 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 quickly they can really go in a quarter mile stretch.
One of the most exciting festivals that occur in Longview is the Alley Fest that is held in the onset of summer. This fest began in 1978 and hosts an art show, a music festival, a food contest and a marathon run which is a 1 mile, 5K and 10K course. The latest introduction to the fest is the Kids Marathon run where children between 5 to 12 take part in a 25.2 miles run.
The most popular amongst all these is the Great Texas Balloon race which 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 during the launch of the Longview Mall as being a giant celebration. It continued thereafter and has evolved into a competitive event of first class standards. This event is considered to draw in 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 to see 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 major newspaper publication in this area and goes back to 187. This publication carries all the local news, sports and community details.
