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 is 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 unusual. Aside from the regular collegiate sports of football, volleyball, Baseball, golf, softball, soccer and other varsity games, they host several yearly events that vary from boat races, balloon races, motorcycle rallies, athletic events. All these events happen 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 every year. The foundation 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 across East Texas in one location drawing almost over 10,000 attendees annually.

Another significant attraction in this area 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 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. During this interactive event, bikers test their skills in racing to see how quickly they could really go in a quarter mile stretch.

One of the most interesting 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 as well as a marathon run that 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 take part in a 25.2 miles run.

The most popular amongst every one of these could be 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 during the launch of the Longview Mall as 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 consists of balloon fights and balloon glows. An added attraction of this event is to observe 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 major newspaper publication in this area and dates back to 187. This publication carries all the local news, sports and community details.