Longview is 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 one of its principle cities. Having 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 quite different and unusual. Aside from the regular collegiate sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer and other varsity games, they host several annual events that vary from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. Each one of these events take place throughout 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 occurs. This 3 day event is held on the last week of January each year. The foundation of this event was laid by the owners of 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 each year.
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 from all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. This event started in 2006 and it has been a major attraction in this area. The event includes many 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 skills in racing to see how fast they can really go in a quarter mile stretch.
One of the most exciting festivals that occur in Longview would be the Alley Fest that is held in the start of summer. This fest began in 1978 and hosts an art show, a music festival, a food contest and 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 the ages of 5 to 12 participate in a 25.2 miles run.
The most famous among all these could be the Great Texas Balloon race which 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 during the launch of the Longview Mall as being a giant celebration. It continued thereafter and it has evolved into a competitive event of world 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. 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 of the local news, sports and community details.