An area in Florida - Let us Cheer the Lowly Possum

There is a put in Florida that created a twelve-foot-high monument in the center of city to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anybody choose to do that?
Very well, to get started with, heroes are difficult to come back by using this type of dedicate Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, property of a lot less than five hundred persons in the midst of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an not likely hero to put it mildly? No one else places the possum on a pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Next, again 1982, Wausau received Weary of remaining overlooked Along with the Florida lists of enjoyable, fairs and festivals. Every single position in Florida requirements a Pageant. And never just one devote Florida features a Possum Festival. Why don't you Wausau?
If you've never absent to Washington County, you almost certainly will Imagine I'm thus, generating this up. In case you have been to Washington County, you may comprehend - and know This may be a true story.
Wausau, it ended up, had some very potent possum politicians noisy . '80s. Here i will discuss a few items they accomplished:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the 1st Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led for the setting up inside the monument alongside State Highway seventy seven in Wausau.

They even got The usa Congress to current market the possum. Congress joined the pleasurable by supplying the resources for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau could have a location to carry its yearly Fun Day and Possum Festival. Featuring Possum removal Glen iris a queen contest and possum auction, amid other matters, the Competition appeals to 1000s of people today every year, plus they adore it.
Trip for a few educating of Northerners in this article. The South's possum is similar lowly animal you contact opossum, (Why use seven letters when 6 will do?) It's a smallish marsupial that life in trees and shows its hideous physique only in the evening. That's why, when you find yourself Within the ideal dedicate Florida, you may listen to possum hunters' puppies baying and barking. Treed by canine, the possum 'freezes', so it is actually simple seize (or shoot) a person.
An inscription round the monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's part in supplying 'both of those fur and foodstuff' in the centuries. It goes on to say: 'Their existence in this article has offered a useful resource of nutritious and flavorful meals in standard times and it's got been a significant assist to human survival in periods of distress and demanding want.'
Chuckle in the event you'd favor. The people today of Wausau will chortle together with you - while downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.