Obsidian Gathering 2026 expands parkour community series across two coasts

Obsidian Gathering 2026 turned from a single parkour jam into a two-coast series, with the East Coast edition running June 18-21 in Baltimore and the West Coast edition following June 25-28 in Oakland. Presented in partnership with the United States Parkour Association, the split format pushed the event beyond a standard weekend meetup and into something closer to a national organizing platform for Black and African-American athletes in the sport.

Marquis Johnson, listed as the organizer under the handle @ThatMrJohnson, tied both editions to the same mission: creating a space that centers Black parkour athletes while still welcoming movers of every background. The listed contact for the series is obsidiangathering@gmail.com. On the West Coast listing, the venue was 1000 Oak St, Oakland, CA 94607, with a refund policy that allowed cancellations up to seven days before the event.

The expansion carries more weight because Obsidian Gathering is not a new name in the scene. Parkour Visions traces it back to 2017, when David Ivey and Johnson launched it as the first Black Pride parkour jam, hosted in Washington, D.C. That origin still shapes the event’s identity: not just another community session, but a deliberate effort to build visibility for Black athletes inside a sport that has often grown through scattered local crews rather than one unified pipeline.

The money behind the 2026 edition shows the same intent. USPK’s fundraising page said the 2025 edition raised nearly $3,000, and the 2026 goal was set at $7,200 for the two events. The funds were earmarked for two full scholarships covering travel and housing, one for each coast, along with invited athlete support and $200 in partnership fees with USPK. That is the kind of structure that can change who actually gets to show up, train, and be seen.

The timing also mattered. By June 27, Obsidian Gathering West appeared on a packed U.S. parkour calendar alongside American Rendezvous, the Singapore International Qualifying Event, and the USPK National Championship. That championship ran June 26-29 at HUB Parkour Training Center in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and its top three podium finishers qualified directly for SPL 5 Parkour World Championships. In other words, Obsidian Gathering unfolded during one of the busiest stretches on the American parkour schedule, with local identity and national stakes sharing the same week.