Missoulians Line Up to Claim Chairs From the Historic Wilma Theater

When it was announced that the Wilma would be offering up their ancient, stained, broken down chairs up for grabs as they close for renovations, we thought we'd be the only Missoulians who would actually show up to claim such tainted, stinky ruins. Turns out, we weren't the only locals who wanted to score a piece of Missoula history.

Hundreds of locals stood in line as the orchestra chairs were torn out and thrown behind The Wilma in pieces for any one to claim. We picked up a trio of broken chairs and got on the list to be called to score some balcony seats. We do own several seats autographed by bands who have helped destroy the Wilma (in a good way) at Blaze shows. But we still wanted a few more of those legendary chairs that have held us up while we held our horns high, protected our kiddos from the mosh pit, held our hoodies while we moshed our asses off, and seated thousands of Missoulians who simply wanted to watch theater, a movie or an Off The Rack performance.

Proceeds from the purchased balcony seats will go directly to the Missoula Symphony Orchestra. The Wilma will reopen in October with a sold out show for My Morning Jacket.

With that, we await a call to pick up our pieces of a theater that is about to see new life. We just hope it hosts as many rock and metal shows as it has in the past.