There’s no fee to join this society, but a love of fantasy is a firm requirement

If you want to escape thoughts of COVID-19 for a while, a journey to Middle Earth with the Tolkien Society of Kansas City might be your ticket. The society is devoted to the works of author J.R.R. Tolkien, including “The Hobbit” and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Recently, the society’s president and founder, Robbie Park, delved into some of the detailed history of the fictional landscape for a small group on Zoom as part of a joint program with the Indian Creek Library.

It’s one of several programs Park has done with the Olathe Public Library.

“I think the first show that I did there was the mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien, a super-deep dive on his works, especially ‘The Silmarillion’ and how the world was constructed. A couple of people came to that who had no idea about the Tolkien Society of Kansas City and became members,” she said.

All of Park’s lectures scheduled with the Mid-Continent Public Library system have been canceled through October. She said she’s glad that Olathe and other library systems are using Zoom to allow these programs to still take place in the midst of the pandemic.

The group is an offshoot of the United Kingdom-based Tolkien Society. When Park moved back to the Kansas City area after a few years away, she wanted to join a chapter but found the closest branches were in Tennessee and Colorado.

Five years later, the chapter she started has about 20 active members but welcomes many more people to its library events all over the metro and monthly happy hours.

The group is starting to gear up for its Oct. 10 academic conference, MiddleMoot, in partnership with Hawkeye Community College in Iowa and internet-based Signum University. They’re accepting submissions for academic presentations through the end of August. This year’s theme is “The Heart of Hope.”

This year’s event is all online, but a previous conference attracted about 60 attendees, Park said.

They’ve also done several events in conjunction with the National World War I Museum, focusing on how Tolkien’s experience in the war shaped his writings.

There are no membership fees to join the society — but a love of fantasy literature or movies is required. Some members have only seen the movies and haven’t read the books. Whatever your entry to Tolkien’s work is, it doesn’t matter to Park.

“Some of my favorite people who have come to the Tolkien Society are the ones who have never read the books,” she said. “I am 100 percent all in with folks who have a very minimal background in Tolkien. … We do not believe in that kind of gatekeeping nonsense you see with certain fan groups. Anyone is welcome to come.”

Jon Moss has been a member of the society for three years and edits its newsletter.

“When I found the Tolkien Society, I just found people that totally understand me, and we can talk a language together. You’re instantly like best friends, because you’ve been quietly suffering by yourself among all the regular people of the world. It just feels really good,” she said.

She has enjoyed re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy with the group, along with additional material from the author’s son, Christopher Tolkien. The group has also read other science fiction, fantasy and horror books together, such as “Dune” and the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

In addition to happy hours and their monthly meeting, the group has also hosted events such as a Feast of Starlight potluck dinner with food inspired by Tolkien’s work.

“We reenacted a scene from Lord of the Rings. … We were trying to understand, based on the description in the book, how the attack took place. And what we discovered was that it was really different from the version that was presented in the film adaptation,” Park said.

“It was a huge success. We streamed it on Twitch, and people got a huge kick out of it. … It’s kind of fun doing nerdy things like that with your friends.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "There’s no fee to join this society, but a love of fantasy is a firm requirement."