Longview news diary and sports
Longview is actually 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 considered 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 quite different and unusual. Aside from the regular collegiate sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer and other varsity games, they host a number of yearly events that range from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. Each one of these events take place through the year and celebrate some facet of sports combined with their culture.
From the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo occurs. This three day event is held around the last week of January every 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 across East Texas under one roof drawing almost over 10,000 attendees annually.
Yet another significant attraction in this area 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 started in 2006 and it has been an important attraction in this area. The event includes many 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 could 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 which is a 1 mile, 5K and 10K course. The newest introduction to the fest is the Kids Marathon run where children between 5 to 12 participate in a 25.2 miles run.
The most popular amongst every one of these is the Great Texas Balloon race which 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 draw in world class hot air balloon pilots from all around the globe and comprises of balloon fights and balloon glows. The added attraction of this event is always to observe how these balloons get inflated and handled. 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 of this area and dates back to 187. This publication carries all the local news, sports and community details.
