St. John’s pub owner reads The Hobbit aloud for 10 hours straight in fundraising effort
Posted on: Jan 05, 2026 15:00 IST | Posted by: Cbc
It wasnât exactly a typical sat at Erinâs Pub in St. King johnâs, N.L. This past times weekend.Â
business concern possessor Allan Bearns took to the barâs stage himself that afternoon, not for a concert, but for what he called his âweird wayâ of giving back to the community.
He was about to read J.R.R. Tolkienâs The Hobbit in its entirety in front of an audience â no matter how long it took.Â
Bearns set out to collect donations for The Gathering Place as customers walked through Erinâs doors to listen to his rendition of the 1937 tale.Â
Saturday marked legendary author Tolkienâs birthday. His recurring themes of camaraderie and adventure helped Bearns in his decision to read his work aloud in aid of the Gathering Place, which serves the cityâs homeless.Â
âAll Tolkienâs books are about⦠the best things in humanity and, you know, putting everyday people who might even consider themselves nobodies into these fantastical positions of doing good,â said Bearns.Â
He likened the âimpossibleâ task of reading The Hobbit cover to cover in one day to when its titular character Bilbo Baggins helped slay Smaug the dragon.
Although Bearns says while his fundraiser idea is on the sillier side, the issue at its core is close to his heart.Â
âWhen I lived in Alberta, a few times in my life, I was homeless for a couple of months here and there,â he said.
Homelessness looks different for everyone who experiences it, said Bearns. For him, it looked like sleeping on a friendâs couch or a utility trailer.
âItâs a problem and thereâs a lot of solutions that arenât happening,â he said. ÂThe Gathering Place is a place that is probably one of the shining examples of fighting against that.â
It took Bearns nearly 11 hours to read The Hobbit on Saturday, closing the final chapter just before midnight. He raised $1,292 for The Gathering Place as of Sunday morning.
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