{"id":87628,"date":"2026-01-15T16:24:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/87628\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T16:24:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:24:29","slug":"stars-and-stripes-gymnastics-invitational-and-mlk-cup-return-to-erie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/87628\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars and Stripes Gymnastics Invitational and MLK Cup return to Erie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/talkerie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Stars-Stripes-Gymnastics012026.jpg\" data-caption=\"Contributed photo.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Stars-Stripes-Gymnastics012026-640x427.jpg\"   alt=\"Stars &amp; Stripes Gymnastics.\" title=\"Stars-&amp;-Stripes-Gymnastics012026\"\/><\/a>Contributed photo.<\/p>\n<p>The 24th\u00a0annual Stars &amp; Stripes Coed Invitational and the Erie MLK Cup highlight another busy weekend of sports tourism in Erie County.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 Stars and Stripes Coed Gymnastics Invitational, hosted by Team Lightning Inc. and Team Lightning Productions, runs Friday through Sunday at the Bayfront Convention Center.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStars &amp; Stripes has grown to become the largest Coed Invitational in Pennsylvania,\u201d said Doug Pershun, program director for Team Lightning Inc. \u201cThis year we are welcoming over 1,500 athletes competing from over 47 quality gymnastics clubs traveling from New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Invitational features the Main Event on Saturday at 6 p.m., showcasing 110 national-level men\u2019s and women\u2019s Level 9 and 10 gymnasts.\u00a0Awards for the event will be presented at 10 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the main event, competition continues throughout the weekend. Friday\u2019s events begin at 8:40 a.m., with the final groups competing at 6:15 p.m. and awards at 9:35 p.m. Sunday\u2019s competition starts at 8:40 a.m., with the last groups competing at 6:20 p.m. and awards at 9:45 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for the event will be available at the door. Adults are $20, children $10. A portion of the event proceeds will benefit first responder initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the Stars and Stripes Gymnastics Invitational, click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/eriegymnastics.com\/stars-%26-stripes-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Erie MLK Cup, hosted by TCS Hockey, features boys\u2019 divisions from 9U through 16U. Games will be held at LECOM Sports Park and Erie Insurance Arena, with competition running Friday through Monday, starting at 7 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament features 750 participants from 42 teams traveling from Maryland, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>For more information and for the full schedule, click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcshockey.com\/events\/erie-mlk-cup-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more information on the Erie Sports Commission and its events, click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eriesportscommission.com\/about-us\/facility-matching-funds-no-form\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contributed photo. The 24th\u00a0annual Stars &amp; Stripes Coed Invitational and the Erie MLK Cup highlight another busy weekend&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-87628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}