Celebrate Garfield the Cat Day Every June 19

• By NSC
• 1 Comment.

 

 

It’s Garfield’s birthday!

No, not the US president assassinated less than 7 months into his first term.

The big orange cartoon cat! That’s right, it’s Garfield the Cat Day.

The comic strip featuring Garfield, his owner Jon Arbuckle, and dog Odie first appeared on June 19, 1978. Not at all by coincidence, Jim Davis (Garfield’s creator) has created a whole biography for Garfield, which gives his birthday as that very same date.

So every year we celebrate the big, lovable Hoosier (in case you didn’t realize, Garfield lives in Muncie, Indiana) on June 19.

And who doesn’t love Garfield?

He’s the original feline grump. He hates Mondays. Hates diets. Hates exercise … Or too much activity of any sort. He also hates raisins, grapefruit, and vegetables.

But he does love lasagna! And eating in general.

He also loves giving Jon a hard time. And beating up on poor Odie.

We know who created Garfield and when. But we don’t know who actually created this day. But that shouldn’t stop anyone from celebrating.

 

Garfield Trivia

Did you know these things about Garfield?

• He was born in Mamma Leoni’s Italian restaurant, apparently explaining his love of lasagna. In fact, he was eating so much food the owner couldn’t keep feeding him and the customers. So Garfield was sold to a pet store, where Jon found him.
• Garfield made the Guinness World Record as the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world. His antics were printed in more than 2,500 publications in 2002.
• Garfield got his name (and attitude!) from James A Garfield Davis, Jim Davis’ grandfather. And yes, James Garfield Davis got his name from James A. Garfield the president.
• The Chicago Sun-Times tried to cancel the Garfield strip shortly after it started. This did not go over well with readers and the paper had to bring him back.
• Jon had a roommate in the early strips. His name was Lyman and he was Odie’s original owner.
• Jon and his creator Jim share the same birthday, July 28. But Jon is 5 years younger than Jim.

 

Do you have any other Garfield trivia to share?

Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this grumpy but fun unofficial holiday.

---

---

 

Ideas For How to Celebrate Garfield the Cat Day

Gorge on Garfield!

Start at the Garfield website. Explore the games and show clips. There’s also a ton of fun mobile apps. Free ones, too!

You can also learn more about Garfield and his whole family here.

If you still get a newspaper, make a point to check out the Garfield comic for June 19.

Move on to eating his favorite foods. That would be lasagna and pizza. Pick one or have both. Maybe one for lunch and the other for dinner?

Need more Garfield?

• Read a Garfield book (or two, or three).
• Watch a Garfield movie
• Get your very own Garfield

 

And of course, if you have a cat, be extra nice to him or her in honor of Garfield.

How will you be celebrating Garfield the Cat Day?

 

GoogleAd-NSC-Bottom (text-3)