A spot in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum

There's a invest Florida that developed a 12-foot-large monument for the duration of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anybody choose to do that?
Perfectly, to begin, heroes just take time and effort to come by within just this invest Florida - the Panhandle metropolis of Wausau, house of much less than five hundred folks through Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an not likely hero understandably? No one else places the possum with a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, back in 1982, Wausau obtained Fed up with being neglected with the Florida lists of enjoyment, fairs and festivals. Each commit Florida requirements a Pageant. And not one location in Florida carries a Possum Festival. Why not Wausau?
If you haven't gone to Washington County, you almost certainly will Consider I am producing this up. Should you have been to Washington County, you may understand - and know Here is the true Tale.
Wausau, it wound up, had some fairly strong possum politicians during the early '80s. Allow me to share certain things they attained:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the First Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led to your making on the monument along Condition Freeway seventy seven in Wausau.

They even acquired America Congress to marketplace the possum. click here Congress joined the entertaining by providing the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau may have a spot to keep its annual Entertaining Day and Possum Competition. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, among the other things, the Competition draws in Lots of individuals on a yearly basis, and they also adore it.
Time out for many educating of Northerners right here. The South's possum is the identical lowly animal you simply call opossum, (Why use 7 letters when 6 will do?) It's a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and exhibits its hideous body only at nighttime. That is why, while you are within the appropriate spend Florida, you'll be able to hear possum hunters' puppies baying and barking. Treed by canines, the possum 'freezes', so it can be straightforward to catch (or shoot) a person.
An inscription to the monument in the midst of Wausau cites the possum's function in delivering 'each fur and food stuff' through the centuries. It goes onto say: 'Their presence listed here has delivered a source of nutritious and flavorful meals in usual instances and it has been An important support to human survival in times of distress and demanding require.'
Snicker if you prefer. The people of Wausau will chortle along with you - even though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.