Longview news diary and sporting events

Longview is actually 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. With 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 unusual. Aside from the regular collegiate sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer and other varsity games, they host several yearly events that range from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. Each one of these events take place throughout the year and celebrate some facet of sports combined with their culture.

In the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo takes place. This 3 day event is organised on the last week of January each year. The building blocks 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 annually.

Yet 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 started in 2006 and it has been a major attraction in this region. The event includes numerous bike games, a bikers show, music and parades and 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 interesting festivals that take place in Longview is the Alley Fest which is held at the start 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 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 each 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 a giant celebration. It continued thereafter and it has grown 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 of this event is always to observe how these balloons get inflated and operated. It 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 major newspaper publication of this area and goes back to 187. This publication carries all of the local news, sports and community details.