As the sun set over Lake Lomond, Dereck Yagle stood on the newly constructed fishing dock and kayak launch, looking out over the 26-acre lake. Though work is still under way, the vision is there, and Yagle sees it clearly.
He sees an active lake where people can fish and launch kayaks. There will be a trail around the lake that will, eventually – hopefully – connect to the city’s ever-expanding trail system. From his retail space at Flugers adjacent to the lake, cyclists will be able to hop on that trail system to explore the miles and miles of continuous trails in Longview. They will perhaps make stops along the way to check out some of the city’s parks, each with its own unique recreational amenities. When cyclists and lake-goers return to Flugers, they will hang out and relax at a food truck park with a bar and a stage for live music.
“It will be the perfect location for us to get cyclists on the trails and for people to get active around the lake,” Yagle said. “It’ll be a place where you can bring your friends, your family, your kids, your dogs and just relax.”
Yagle, who opened Flugers in April 2021, gets excited about the possibilities. He grew up in White Oak, 8 miles from Flugers’ location on West Marshall Avenue. The space around Lake Lomond that he and others are working to develop is something he wishes had existed when he was a teenager.
“I get excited about everybody who’s going to be able to access this point,” he said. “It’s beautiful out there.”
Lake Lomond is poised to become another recreational amenity in Longview. From a beautiful trail system and many parks with unique offerings to activities like pickleball, disc golf, sports leagues, cycling, running, and more, recreational opportunities abound in Longview.
The benefits of parks and recreational activities abound. They can contribute to a community’s identity and can generate revenue through activities like sports tournaments. But the largest and most predominant impact is found in the health benefits. Parks and recreation areas help people of all ages maintain a healthy lifestyle, and they promote social interaction.
“Parks and recreation are vitally important not just for physical health but also for mental health,” said John Albertson, director of parks and recreation for the City of Longview.
“During the pandemic, we were all kind of locked away in our houses for a while there, and getting out, I think, became even more important. Particularly with our trail system, we saw that we had a really great asset during that period of time. We’ve really seen people start to utilize it more and focus on the mental health aspect of getting out and experiencing nature while also being able to work on their physical health.”
The City of Longview features 34 parks, three recreation centers, five splash pads, a swimming pool, more than 50 sports fields, a skatepark, a dog park, disc golf courses, pickleball courts, and about 18 miles of trail. Public-private partnerships are to credit for several of the city’s amenities, including some of the disc golf courses and pickleball courts, and Albertson said the parks department is continually looking toward the future to meet the needs of residents and visitors.
“We have some really exciting projects coming up that I think our community is really going to enjoy,” he said. “We’re really trying to expand a lot of things at this point. There are a lot of things that are in the works. In our department, I know a lot of the staff are really excited about projects that they’re working on because these are things we’ve talked about for a while, but it takes time to build. Now, we’re at a point where we’re about to start seeing a lot of those things coming together. It’s really exciting.”
Parks & Trails
The City of Longview features 34 parks, many of which have seen recent updates as part of the 2018 bond election in which taxpayers approved spending $24.7 million on improvements to the parks and trails system.
In 2025, Albertson said more bond updates will be on the way at McWhorter Park, Spring Hill Park, and Rollins Park. These updates will complete the parks portion of the 2018 bond election, he noted.
At McWhorter Park, the city plans to convert the existing softball fields into soccer fields. At Rollins Parks, the playground will be replaced, and the basketball courts will get a facelift. Meanwhile, at Spring Hill Park, a trail will be added around the playground, and the splash pad will be expanded.
“Those are all really good projects,” Albertson said. “It’ll feel really good to complete the bond projects.”
When considering the city’s parks, Albertson noted that Lear Park and Teague Park are two crowning jewels in the city. The trail system, which connects many of the city’s parks, is also a key component.
Lear Park is a regional sports complex that spreads across 182 acres. The park features softball, baseball and soccer fields, a walking trail, a fishing pier, the Jack Mann Splash Pad and KidsView Playground. The Jack Mann Splash Pad is one of the most popular parks facilities in Longview.
“It’s a really great facility that we offer not just for our citizens, but we also have people who travel from all over to come to Jack Mann,” Albertson said. “In May, especially, we start to see buses from ISDs from all over bringing children to Jack Mann, and that’s one thing that, of course, pushes those numbers higher. It’s the same way at KidsView, which is also at Lear Park. It’s also extremely popular. I think KidsView is kind of a tucked away hidden gem. A lot of people will go to Lear quite a bit, but they don’t realize that KidsView is over there, kind of tucked away over under the trees. We’re excited about it and its future. We’re excited about Lear, in general, and all the potential that we have to continue to improve and continue to grow there.”
In October 2024, KidsView closed to receive a much-anticipated improvement. It’s tentatively slated to reopen in the spring of 2025. In addition to making repairs to the playground, there will be an expanded toddler play area and new swing sets, and a new feature called a Temple Trolley will be installed.
“We’re looking forward to a revitalized KidsView that will continue to serve generations to come,” Albertson said.
Across town, Teague Park is a community park built on 30 acres that features an amphitheater, a pond, a picnic area and pavilion, play area, a hike and bike trail, and more. In 2025, a project called “Bringing Back Teague Park” will kick off to make significant improvements to the beloved park. Bringing Back Teague Park is a $2.6 million project that is supported by a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, $1 million in support from the Longview Economic Development Corporation, and $330,000 from former Mayor Andy’s Mack Go-Giver Galas. The project began during Mack’s tenure as mayor when he sought to create a new entryway from Marshall Avenue into Teague Park to improve the visibility of the park.
The city’s trail system also is among the biggest assets in the Parks and Recreation Department, Albertson said. They rank among the most used amenities and are also one of the most requested for additions, he said. Currently, the City of Longview has about 18 miles of trails. Of those, about 10 miles are continuous trail that connect from Cargill Long to Guthrie to Paul Boorman. Albertson, who moved to Longview in 2023 to serve as the Parks and Recreation Director, said the trail system was a big draw for him personally.
“Our trails can be used by anyone,” he said. “Anyone in our community is capable of using the trails, and we always look forward to the future expansion and growth of that system. We’re always looking for avenues so we can improve the trails. There’s a lot of things that we can do to bring our system further and get it all connected. That was obviously what happened with Guthrie connecting Cargill Long over to Paul Boorman, and we’re continuing to just look how we can further expand and further connect our system.”
Aquatics & Leagues
In 2025, Longview also is poised to make progress on a new swimming pool. In 2024, the Longview City Council voted to build a new swimming pool at Stamper Park. The city entered a contract with a design firm and began to seek public input on what amenities the community would like to see in the new facility. In November 2024, a preliminary proposal presented to the City Council showed plans for a slide, a children’s play structure, sunshades, and zero-depth entry. The city is continuing with the design phase and expects to bring more details before the City Council in 2025.
“We’re going to work as fast as we can on this project while also creating a good quality pool for our residents,” Albertson said. “We know the community really wants to see aquatics, and so we want to try and push to be able to get this done as soon as possible.”
The City of Longview also features a pool at Ingram Park. Ingram Pool is open during the summers and features low-cost day rates as well as season passes.
The city is working on rebuilding its Aquatics Division as well as sports tourism, Albertson noted.
“We’re going to strengthen how we do our maintenance and how we operate our facilities,” he said. “We’re really excited about the future of where we’re going. We’ll be able to have better offerings when it comes to aquatics.”
The city is also looking to strengthen its sports tourism, Albertson said, and marketing Longview to host additional tournaments that will bring in tourism. In 2022-2023, Longview played host to 65 tournaments, according to data provided by the city.
Outside of tournaments, the city also offers leagues for residents. The city features an adult softball league, church league softball, and youth and adult basketball leagues. The Parks and Recreation Department is also looking to expand those opportunities in the future, he said.
Disc Golf & Pickleball
Public-private partnerships have helped add many amenities to Longview. A shining example of those amenities is the Longview Arboretum and Nature Center. Located on 26 acres, the Arboretum is on City of Longview land, but its amenities are provided through the fundraising efforts of a nonprofit Board of Directors. The nonprofit also organizes many events at the Arboretum. The city and the nonprofit work closely together for maintenance of the Arboretum.
Disc golf courses and pickleball courts are also examples of public-private partnerships that have enriched the recreational amenities in Longview.
“It’s wonderful coming to a city where the general public and organizations want to work with your department. It is not that way for every city,” Albertson said.
"It’s really great to be in a city where so many people care about our park system and want to be involved in ways to improve it."
For more than 20 years, the Longview Disc Golf Association has worked to make the city a destination for the popular sport. Longview has four disc golf courses. There are 18-hole courses located at Hinsley Park, Guthrie Park, and Lear Park. Ingram Park has a nine-hole course. The course at Lear Park is the newest with baskets that were installed in 2023.
“All of the courses are very different, and they all have different skill requirements,” said Hayden Henry, who serves as tournament director for the Longview Disc Golf Association and works as a media specialist of the national Professional Disc Golf Association.
The courses at Ingram and Guthrie parks, he noted, are beginner friendly. Guthrie is more open with fewer trees than a park like Hinsley, which contains many trees for participants to navigate around. Hinsley is an intermediate park where players can learn how to navigate those obstacles. Meanwhile, the newest course at Lear Park is considered a “championship level course,” he said. Lear is a longer course, overall, and its located mostly in the woods. There’s more elevation, more creeks with water, more trees, and it simply takes more skill to navigate.
In addition to anyone being able to come out to play the sport, the Longview Disc Golf Association also hosts tournaments that are sanctioned by the Public Disc Golf Association. Henry said the Longview Disc Golf Association hosts weekly meetups, typically on Sundays, for people to come out and play. They rotate through the different courses. There are also occasional pop-up events, and the club also hosts a few tournaments each year.
The popularity of disc golf has grown substantially over time and particularly experienced a boom during the pandemic.
“People wanted to get out and do something, and disc golf is a really great sport for social distancing,” Henry said. “It was something you could go out and do with your family; you could do it by yourself or with a small group. It just really exploded then.”
The disc golf association works closely with the City of Longview to help support and maintain the disc golf courses. Similarly, the Longview Pickleball Club also works closely with the city to help support the pickleball courts.
The City of Longview first added pickleball courts in 2020 at Guthrie Park. Those courts are the home for the Longview Pickleball Club, which also hosts two tournaments each year. As popularity in the sport grew, more courts were added. Today, Guthrie features six pickleball courts as well as wind screens. The additions were a partnership between the club and the city.
Pickleball is a social sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping pong. It’s played on courts that are 44 feet by 22 feet, or roughly half the size of a regular tennis court. The sport has exploded in popularity in recent years.
“Disc golf was the fastest growing sport in America until pickleball came along,” said Henry, who also serves as vice president of the Longview Pickleball Club.
Pickleball and disc golf share some key traits that attract players to both sports. First, they’re both relatively low cost to get into, Henry said. They’re both beginner friendly but offer “incredible health benefits – especially for pickleball,” Henry said.
“People think, ‘it’s just like a smaller tennis court but you’re not running as much.’ But believe me, you’re running a lot. You’re sweating; you’re getting your heart rate up. It definitely has a lot of health benefits,” he said.
Both sports also have a lot of social benefits, and each is considered to be a lifetime sport.
Because of the popularity of pickleball locally, the City of Longview added additional parking at Guthrie Park and added striping to the tennis courts at Akin Park so that they can be used for pickleball as well.
Cycling, Running, & Skateboarding
As the city has focused on enhancements to the trail system, that effort has led to increased numbers of runners and cyclists taking to the trails.
The Longview Loopers and the Longview Running Club are two groups that focus on running, primarily on pavement. The Loopers have weekly runs throughout the community. Racquet and Jog, a sporting goods store with a focus on serving the running community, also started a weekly Thursday night run in 2024.
A new type of running event also came to the community in 2024. Briston Rains, founder, owner, and CEO of Texas Outlaw Running Company, started up a trail run series in Longview. Whereas traditional road running is done on paved surfaces, trail runs feature uneven terrain that must be navigated.
The Longview Trail Runs series consists of four runs held in the winter, spring, summer, and fall. The 3-mile course takes participants through the Longview Arboretum & Nature Center and then connects to the Grace Creek Mountain Bike Trail and finishes back at the Arboretum. While the course starts as an open, paved trail, it quickly narrows into a small dirt, single track trail. At each event, those who complete the run receive a medal. At the end of the series, the four medals can be put together to make larger, complete medal. The 2025 trail run series is slated for January 11, April 19, July 26, and October 18.
The Grace Creek Mountain Bike Trail is a 3.8 mile trail open to the public with parking and access from the trailhead at the Arboretum parking lot. Volunteers with Longview Texas Mountain Bike and East Texas Trail Advocates are helping to build and maintain the trail, which is located on land owned by the City of Longview.
In addition to Grace Creek, there are a few other local mountain bike trails in the area, including one at Williams Lake at Mobberly Baptist Church. The Mobberly Trail features 6.3 miles of trail that are good for biking, hiking, or trail running. Yagle said that the trail is beginner friendly but also has some challenging areas for advanced riders. While the trail is on private property owned by the church, it is open to the public. Other mountain bike trails are located in nearby White Oak and Kilgore.
At Flugers, Yagle hosts a series called Shred the Pines. The series feature rides on four mountain bike trails in the area: Mobberly Mountain Bike Trail, Big Head Creek Mountain Bike Trail in Kilgore, White Oak Multi-Use Trail, and a privately owned trail known as “29 Pines.” Money raised from the four-race sprint series goes back to the trails, Yagle said.
“It’s a local series, and it’s a way to promote the local trails,” Yagle said.
For Yagle, Flugers emerged after the 2020 pandemic when a lot of people wanted to get outdoors. Yagle has always enjoyed outdoor activities, such as Jeeping, camping, kayaking, and mountain biking. He felt Longview needed a sporting goods store where people could buy quality products and then put them to use. He often drove by the space on West Marshall Avenue where Flugers is now located. One day he asked to see it.
“When I walked the property, that’s what really spoke to me. I thought, this could really be something,” he recalled.
Today, Flugers occupies about 10,000 square feet of space on the property. The retail shop carries all kinds of recreational products, including bicycles, e-bikes, kayaks, rooftop tents, inflatable paddleboards, clothing items, and more. E-bikes (electric bikes) are among the store’s top sellers as they have helped more people get back on bicycles and allow them to go further, he noted.
When people purchase a bike, he encourages them to check out the city’s trail system. The Boorman Trail features an entrance near Flugers, just across Marshall Avenue. Those visiting from other communities often return to Flugers after a ride and comment that they wish they had the miles of continuous trail in their cities that Longview offers.
Located in downtown Longview, Woolley G’s Bike and Fitness also focuses on serving the cycling community. For 50 years, Woolley G’s has served the community through its shop that offers mountain bikes, road bikes, children’s bikes, BMX bikes, along with apparel, helmets, tires and more. Woolley G’s is a one-stop shop that also offers a service department for bikes.
“You name it, we’ve got it and if we don’t have it, we can get it,” said David Hernandez, who manages and co-owners Woolley G’s with David Townsend and Gary Ford.
With the city’s robust trail system, Hernandez said Woolley G’s sells a lot of hybrid bikes and mountain bikes, but he noted that e-bikes are on the rise.
“Cycling has been popular for a long time,” Hernandez said. “For a lot of people, cycling kind of takes them back to their childhood days of growing up with bikes. We, of course, saw it really take off back in 2020 with the 
pandemic when people were wanting to do things outside. But since then, it’s really held a place in everybody’s routine as far as staying active. There are lots of groups, and cycling is just something fun to do outside.”
Woolley G’s encourages the social aspect of cycling through its weekly rides on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from the bike shop. The Monday night ride is beginner friendly and geared toward anyone. Tuesday night is a fast-paced ride that Hernandez said will “really get your heart thumping.” On Thursdays, Woolley G’s hosts a mountain bike ride at the Mobberly Trail. Often times, there is also a weekend group ride as well.
Also located in downtown Longview, Ollie’s Skate Shop serves the skateboarding community through its shop, which features skateboards, longboards, shoes, apparel, and accessories. While always popular, skateboarding gained a boost in Longview after Dodson Action Sports Complex opened in 2020.
Located at Ingram Park, Dodson Action Sports Complex is a skatepark designed for skateboards, scooters, inline skates, and BMX freestyle bikes. Motorized vehicles are not allowed. The park, which was built on former tennis courts at Ingram Park, came about as a result of another public-private partnership with the City of Longview. The community raised $40,000 toward the skatepark, and the City of Longview matched it with another $40,000 to build the park. In the years that have followed, Dodson Action Sports Complex has attracted major events, including a BMX event in which former Olympians participated.
Lake Lomond & Future Recreation
Nestled just a couple of miles from downtown Longview, Lake Lomond is tucked away from the city but is also in the heart of it.
Lake Lomond was constructed in 1910 on what was farmland at the time, down the road from downtown Longview. It featured a bathhouse, pavilion, boat docks and other amenities. It was named by its founders after Loch Lomond, a freshwater lake in Scotland they admired upon visiting. The dam built at Harris Creek, which was used to create the lake, later became part of a road constructed in the 1940s by Gregg County.
In 2021, a nonprofit organization called Friends of Lake Lomond began working on efforts to transform the lake into an outdoor oasis that everyone can enjoy. Hudson Johnson serves as president of the board for the nonprofit, and Bessie Johnson serves as executive director of the nonprofit organization.
The group’s plans call for transforming the land into what will be known as Echols Park, a developed park that will be open to the public. When completed, Echols Park will consist of about 92 acres of natural old growth forest, wetlands, and creek systems with the 26-acre Lake Lomond and approximately 1.5 miles of a connecting loop trail that will wind around the lake and wetlands areas. Future planned amenities at Echols Park include a boardwalk, a small outdoor amphitheater, a boat launch for non-motorized boats, and fishing docks as well as commercial and retail development along the peripheries of the park. The trail will, hopefully, eventually connect with the City of Longview’s Boorman Trail.
As progress continues on Phase I improvements, residents and visitors could see an opportunity to begin experiencing the park and the lake in 2025. With the completion in 2024 of the kayak launch and fishing dock, Flugers plans to help manage entrance and access to the lake when it opens to the public. There is still some work to be completed before that happens, but it’s likely that in 2025 people will get to begin experiencing Lake Lomond.
“We’ll be the first access point, so you’ll be able to come here, park here, rent kayaks or bring your own kayak, fish off the dock,” Yagle said. “We’re excited to be part of it.”
More retail development is planned on the side of Lake Lomond in the future. Plans call for a potential brewery. From that future development, there will be other access points to the lake with the trail winding around the lake and connecting all sides.
As Echols Park continues to develop around Lake Lomond, Yagle also has big dreams for Flugers. In 2025, Flugers will open a second location in Bossier City, and Yagle is excited to keep expanding the brand. Longview will continue to be the flagship location.
Behind the Longview retail shop is where the food truck park will be located eventually. It’ll feature space for four food trucks, though Yagle said one will probably be an in-house truck that offers such items as gourmet sodas. Nearby, there will also be a bar and a space for live music. He’s looking at adding some small recreational amenities around that area. Between the park, the lake, the trail that will hopefully tie into the city’s trail system, his shop, and the food truck park, Yagle sees a prime venue for people to spend an afternoon or an evening with their family and friends.
“I sit out here sometimes with customers and talk about what this could be,” he said. “It’s not just my staff and I who are excited about it – the community is excited. It’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be a really cool attraction for everyone who lives here and everyone who visits here.”
