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 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 a number of annual events that vary from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. All these events take place through the year and celebrate some facet of sports coupled with their culture.
In the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo takes place. This three day event is held on the last week of January every year. The building blocks of this event was laid by way of 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 across East Texas in one location drawing almost over 10,000 attendees each year.
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 a major attraction in this area. The big event includes numerous bike games, a bikers show, music and parades and the big attraction known as the Teresi Dyno-Drag. In this interactive event, bikers test their abilities in racing and find out 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 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 the ages of 5 to 12 take part in a 25.2 miles run.
The most famous amongst every one of these is the Great Texas Balloon race which is held in the month of July every 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 over the launch of the Longview Mall as a giant celebration. It continued thereafter and has grown into a competitive event of world class standards. This event is said to attract world class hot air balloon pilots from all across the world and comprises of balloon fights and balloon glows. The added attraction of this event is to see how these balloons get inflated and handled. 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 main newspaper publication in this area and dates back to 187. This publication carries all the local news, sports and community information.