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

There is a invest Florida that designed a twelve-foot-high monument in the middle of city to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone need to do that?
Properly, to begin with, heroes consider effort and time to investigate with this place in Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, dwelling of under 500 individuals in the middle of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an unlikely hero To place it mildly? No one else places the possum about the pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Next, past 1982, Wausau received Unwell and tired with being neglected Using the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Each area in Florida needs a Competition. And never one particular devote Florida carries a Possum Festival. Why not Wausau?
If you have under no circumstances absent to Washington County, you almost certainly will Feel I'm thus, earning this up. For those who have been to Washington County, you will understand - and know This is actually the genuine story.
Wausau, it turned out, experienced some rather powerful possum politicians throughout the early '80s. Here are two items they accomplished:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the 1st Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led to your building in the monument along State Freeway seventy seven in Wausau.

They even bought The usa Congress to marketplace the possum. Congress joined the entertaining by furnishing the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau can have a location to carry its annual Entertaining Working day and Possum Pageant. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, amid other factors, the festival appeals to Many of us Every and each year, and they adore it.
Time out for a great deal of educating of Northerners below. The South's possum would be the identical lowly animal you connect with opossum, (Why use seven letters when 6 will almost certainly do?) It is a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and shows its hideous physique only at nighttime. This is why, if you find yourself Within the correct place in place Florida, it is possible to listen to possum hunters' canines baying and barking. Treed by pet dogs, the possum 'freezes', so it really is basic plenty of to capture (or shoot) one.
An inscription around the monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's purpose in providing 'both fur and meals' throughout the centuries. It goes onto say: 'Their existence listed here has delivered a here supply of nutritious and flavorful food in usual moments and it has been a vital assistance to human survival for the duration of instances of distress and important have to have.'
Giggle if you want. The individuals of Wausau will chuckle in addition to you - though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.