Longview news journal and sporting events
Longview is a city spread between Harrison County and Gregg County in Texas. This city is regarded as the commercial hub with the Longview Metropolitan Statistical Area and is considered 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 fairly different and unconventional. Aside from the regular collegiate 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. All 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 occurs. This three day event is organised on the last week of January every year. The building blocks of the event was laid by the owners of Longview Marines, Gene Brady and Dale Clark and has been active since 1982. This expo brings RVs, yachts, boats and motorcycles, ATVs from all of across East Texas in one location drawing almost over 10,000 attendees each year.
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 from all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. This event began in 2006 and it has been a major 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 skills in racing to see how quickly they could really go in a quarter mile stretch.
Probably 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 newest introduction to the fest has been the Kids Marathon run where children between 5 to 12 take part in a 25.2 miles run.
The most famous among all these could be 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 being a giant celebration. It continued thereafter and it has evolved 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 comprises of balloon fights and balloon glows. An added attraction of this event is to see 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 of the local news, sports and community information.