An area in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum

There is a commit Florida that developed a 12-foot-large monument during town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anybody may love to do that?
Well, to begin with, heroes just take time and effort to acquire on this put in Florida - the Panhandle city of Wausau, household of beneath five hundred persons in the middle of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an unlikely hero To place it mildly? No person else places the possum over a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, back again 1982, Wausau received Sick and tired of staying omitted Along with the Florida lists of exciting, fairs and festivals. Each place in position Florida requirements a Pageant. Rather than a single invest Florida incorporates a Possum Pageant. Why not Wausau?
If you have never attended Washington County, you almost certainly will Believe I am making this up. For those who have visited Washington County, you can fully grasp - and know This may be a true story.
Wausau, it turned out, experienced some quite impressive possum politicians in early '80s. Allow me to share a pair of factors they completed:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the initial Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. click here That led to the creating Together with the monument alongside Point out Freeway 77 in Wausau.

They even received the United States Congress to industry the possum. Congress joined the entertaining by supplying the resources for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau may need an area to assistance its yearly Enjoyment Working day and Possum Festival. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, amongst other factors, the Pageant appeals to a lot of folks annually, they usually locate it irresistible.
Trip for a several educating of Northerners in this article. The South's possum is similar lowly animal you connect with opossum, (Why use 7 letters when 6 will conduct?) It's a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and displays its unpleasant system only at night. That's why, Should you be during the right spend Florida, you are able to hear possum hunters' dogs baying and barking. Treed by puppies, the possum 'freezes', hence it can be not so hard seize (or shoot) one.
An inscription about the monument throughout Wausau cites the possum's role in furnishing 'both of those fur and food' throughout the full hundreds of years. It goes on to say: 'Their presence below has presented a source of nutritious and flavorful food stuff in typical times and consists of been a crucial aid to human survival when in distress and demanding need to have.'
Giggle If you need. The people of Wausau will snicker along with you - even though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.