Longview news journal and sports
Longview is 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. 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 unusual. Apart from the regular college 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 facet of sports coupled with their culture.
In the month of January the East Texas Boat, RV and Camping Expo occurs. This 3 day event is organised around the last week of January each year. The foundation of the event was laid by way of 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 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 coming from all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. This event began in 2006 and has been an important attraction in this region. The event includes numerous bike games, a bikers show, music and parades and the big attraction called the Teresi Dyno-Drag. In this interactive event, bikers test their skills in racing and find out how quickly they can really go in a quarter mile stretch.
One of the most exciting festivals that take place in Longview is the Alley Fest which 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 latest introduction to the fest has been the Kids Marathon run where children between the ages of 5 to 12 take part in a 25.2 miles run.
The most famous among every one of these could be the Great Texas Balloon race that 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 being a giant celebration. It carried on thereafter and it has evolved into a competitive event of world class standards. This event is considered to draw in world-class hot air balloon pilots from all across the world and comprises of balloon fights and balloon glows. An 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 of the local news, sports and community details.