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 approximately 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 collegiate sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer and other varsity games, they host a number of annual events that range from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. All these events happen through the year and celebrate some aspect of sports coupled with their culture.
In 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 each year. The building blocks 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 of across East Texas in one location drawing almost over 10,000 attendees annually.
Yet another major attraction in this region 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 an important 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. In this interactive event, bikers test their abilities in racing to see how fast they can really go in a quarter mile stretch.
Probably the most interesting festivals that take place in Longview would be the Alley Fest which is held at the onset of summer. This fest began in 1978 and hosts an art show, a music festival, a food contest as well as 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 famous amongst every one of 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 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 carried on 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 across the world and consists 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 goes back to 187. This publication carries all of the local news, sports and community information.