The Roxy Theater’s Beloved Cat Garfield Has Passed Away

It was a familiar sight in the lobby of The Roxy Theater - you'd arrive, pay for your ticket, maybe stop by the concession stand for some popcorn. Then, you might realize that you're a few minutes early for your movie, and you had to wait until the previous showing gets out. So you sit down on the bench in the lobby, and then suddenly - the Roxy's cat, Garfield, emerges from beneath you!

As someone who attends the Roxy regularly (or at least did, pre-COVID, and hopes to go back once they reopen), I ran into Garfield a lot - everybody who frequented the theater loved seeing him, and he loved getting petted by moviegoers, too. Unfortunately, the Roxy took to Facebook and Instagram over the weekend to deliver the news that Garfield had passed away.

View this post on Instagram

Our beloved office pal Garfield made the journey over the rainbow bridge Friday. He was a big time cuddler who loved to beg for treats and popcorn. He’d keep projectionists company in the booth and occasionally wonder downstairs for popcorn and head scratches. He snuck out of the theater a few times and we could always count on our Hip Strip neighbors to keep an eye out and report Garfield sightings. You could usually find him lounging in the sunbeams or curled up on the office couch. He always reminded us that nothing we were working on was important enough to not stop and give him some scratches (usually by laying on top of whatever you were working on!). We will miss our big, orange boy. Thank you so much to Al Sonju for taking Garf in during quarantine, where he had a wonderful, loving home to spend his last months. 🐱 ❤️ 🌈

A post shared by The Roxy Theater (@theroxy406) on Sep 19, 2020 at 5:10pm PDT

The Roxy bills itself as Missoula's community cinema, and Garfield was as much a part of that community as anything else in the theater. Luckily, it sounds like his last months were peaceful, even if he couldn't spend them at the Roxy along with the rest of us.

Do you have any favorite Garfield stories from over the years at the theater?