CONNERSVILLE — Rick Sparks never intended to build a village.
The longtime fan of author J.R.R. Tolkien originally planned to construct just one Hobbit-inspired house on a 3½-acre property just outside Connersville, creating a weekend getaway.
Seven years later, that one house turned into his residence so he could spend more time creating an 11-building fantasy village called Rackshire. The village sprawls across the property and features Tolkienesque rounded doors, turf-covered roofs, stone fireplaces, winding paths and rustic structures fashioned largely from recycled lumber and secondhand materials.
Sparks envisions eventually adding as many as 15 to 20 more small buildings to create something resembling a permanent medieval village, with shops for vendors, a central courtyard and a 24-foot bell tower. He is also developing overnight accommodations and hopes the property can attract groups interested in Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy gaming.
For now, the biggest public showcase of his work comes during a two-day festival later this month that is expected to draw thousands of visitors to the property along State Road 44 west of Connersville.
Hobbit Festival
What: A celebration of Tolkien Week, which marks the life and works of author J.R.R. Tolkien and always comes near Sept. 22, known as Hobbit Day. That is the shared fictional birthday of characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 26-27
Where: Rackshire, a Hobbit-inspired village of 11 structures on 3.5 acres at 4428 W. State Road 44, Connersville
Admission: $5 per person, cash only
Parking: $5 (cash only) at a neighboring farm at 4684 W. State Road 44
Website: Rackshire.com
Note: The site’s hilly terrain may not be suitable for those with mobility issues.
An early fascination
Sparks’ fascination with Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” goes back to childhood, when he first learned about the fictional, peaceful creatures and the cozy, round underground homes they inhabited.
He remembers watching the Rankin/Bass animated adaptations of Tolkien stories in the late 1970s and early 1980s, then reading Tolkien’s books and playing Dungeons & Dragons.
“All that kind of went hand in hand, the fantasy,” he said.
His children grew up with it, too. His daughter, Kyla Robinson, remembers her father collecting “Lord of the Rings” memorabilia and making props he couldn’t buy.
“I’ve always called him a fabricator,” Robinson said. “He’s always building something.”
Years later, after Robinson married and was considering buying a house, she floated an idea to her father: Wouldn’t it be fun to live in a Hobbit-style house?
Sparks started drawing plans. Robinson ultimately decided to buy a conventional house rather than wait for her father to build one. But Sparks kept going anyway.
In 2018, he bought the property outside Connersville for about $17,000.
Sparks spent much of his first year dismantling the existing structures and salvaging whatever materials he could use. He built the first Hobbit-inspired house, which incorporates part of the property’s old modular home, in 2019.
That was supposed to be the end of the project.
But as more curiosity seekers started stopping by to see the first house, he wanted to give them more to look at.
A roadside curiosity
Sparks first added two smaller structures in 2020 featuring Hobbit elements favored by his son and daughter and then kept experimenting and building from scratch until he had a village.
Eventually, he built a semicircular driveway partly because so many strangers were stopping that they needed an easier way to get back onto the highway.
“I get people to stop pretty much daily,” he said.
One of those people was Monica Osting, a “Lord of the Rings” fan from Greenville, Ohio.
Osting spotted a photograph of Sparks’ house on a Facebook group devoted to Middle-earth, the fantasy world in Tolkien’s books. She was surprised to learn it was only about a 90-minute drive from her home.
She contacted Sparks, visited the property and was immediately struck by what could not be seen from the highway.
“You get there, and you see the main house,” Osting said. “And then it just opens up down this hillside and you realize, holy cannoli, this is a lot.”
Osting eventually volunteered to create Rackshire’s website, giving Sparks a way to promote the village without relying almost entirely on Facebook and word of mouth.
She said Sparks’ craftsmanship is what impressed her most. The interiors aren’t simply decorated with mass-produced fantasy props, she said. Sparks has built, carved or scavenged many of the details himself.
“It looks like a real home instead of a fancy reproduction,” Osting said. “It’s real craftsmanship.”
Incorporated into the tile in the main house is the sword carried by Frodo, the Tolkien hero, she noted. Hanging from the ceiling is a handmade puppet of Gollum, the wretched creature obsessed with a golden ring that he famously calls “my precious.”
Sparks, 53, said he uses his years of experience as a builder and former owner of a landscaping company to do most of the handiwork himself. His current schedule as a live-in caregiver for people with disabilities gives him every other week off and offers lots of uninterrupted time for ongoing construction.
An unexpected audience
The steady stream of visitors eventually gave Sparks another idea: Instead of having people stop one at a time, why not invite everybody at once?
He organized his first festival in 2021.
Sparks said more than 3,000 people showed up over three days, including visitors from surrounding states and as far away as Pennsylvania. Some waited as long as 90 minutes to get inside the main house.
“Honestly, we weren’t prepared for that,” Robinson recalled.
Last year’s festival drew more than 2,000 people, she said. That time organizers used a handheld clicker to count admissions and had improved arrangements for parking and moving people onto the property.
Many of the people who attend are steeped in Hobbit lore.
Kevin Rose of Connersville first read “The Lord of the Rings” in high school more than 40 years ago and has read the books multiple times since.
He had passed Sparks’ property many times and assumed the unusual structure visible from the highway was all there was.
Then he attended the festival last year.
“I had no idea there were several acres with a bunch of buildings all done Hobbit-style,” Rose said.
What impressed Rose most was how closely the place matched both Peter Jackson’s movies and the Middle-earth he had imagined while reading Tolkien’s books.
“It was so close again to both the movies and what I had pictured in my head while reading,” he said.
Kristi Asher, who attended with Rose last year, came away equally impressed. She compared the experience to visiting the Harry Potter attractions at Warner Bros. Studios because of the attention to detail.
Some of her favorite touches were small: cups and clothing positioned as though somebody had just left the room, instruments waiting to be played, journals left open and other objects arranged to make the structures look inhabited.
“It looked like the Hobbits were just gone for the day,” Asher said, “and we came in and took over.”
The Hobbit Fest
This year’s festival will offer visitors a chance to walk through Rackshire’s buildings and grounds while Sparks and his family try to create something closer to a small Renaissance fair.
Sparks has been recruiting vendors whose goods fit the setting, including pottery, leatherwork and armor, medieval-style clothing, woodworking, honey and blacksmithing.
Robinson plans to sell fall concessions including homemade cider, caramel apples and pumpkin rolls. Organizers are also working to bring in additional food vendors.
Costumes are encouraged but not required.
Sparks and many family members dress as Hobbits, sometimes complete with large rubber Hobbit feet. Some vendors and visitors also arrive in costume.
The September timing isn’t accidental.
Robinson said the festival is held near the birthday of Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit whose discovery of a mysterious ring in Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” ultimately sets much of the larger “Lord of the Rings” story into motion. The decorations and festival atmosphere are intended partly to evoke Bilbo’s birthday celebration.
Still building
Even as more people discover Rackshire, Sparks continues adding to it.
Besides the vendor village, he has discussed creating a nine-hole fantasy-themed miniature golf course, with small waterways and bridges running through part of the property.
He also has begun developing a gaming store and is taking reservations for overnight stays in the main house.
Sparks would eventually like the festival grounds to feel more permanent and immersive — more like walking into a village than attending an event where modern tents dominate the landscape.
He said his main goal is to provide for others the kind of escape Tolkien’s tales provided him as a boy.
“It just takes you away from everything,” Sparks said.
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Greg Weaver is an FPI News freelance contributor. You can reach him at gregoryeweaver@gmail.com.
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