An area in Florida - Let us Cheer the Lowly Possum

There is a commit Florida that designed a 12-foot-high monument in the middle of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would any person wish to do that?
Very well, to start, heroes are hard to get In this particular dedicate Florida - the Panhandle city of Wausau, dwelling of fewer than 500 people in the center of Washington County about ten miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an not likely hero as you'll anticipate? Nobody else puts the possum above a pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Next, last 1982, Wausau got fed up with getting ignored Together with the Florida lists of enjoyment, fairs and festivals. Every single place in place Florida would like a festival. And never a person place set up Florida includes a Possum Festival. Why don't you Wausau?
If you haven't long gone to Washington County, you probably will Assume I am producing this up. In case you have been to Washington County, you will fully grasp - and know This can be the real story.
Wausau, it proved, had some fairly potent possum politicians while in the early '80s. Here are a few issues they achieved:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the extremely first Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led towards the building from the monument together Point out Freeway seventy seven in Wausau.

They even received The us Congress in advertising and marketing the possum. Congress joined the exciting by giving the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might need a spot to carry its annual Fun Day and Possum Competition. That includes a queen contest and possum auction, among the other things, the festival attracts thousands of folks Each individual website and yearly, and so that they like it.
Outing for the few educating of Northerners listed here. The South's possum would be the equivalent lowly animal you connect with opossum, (Why use seven letters when six can do?) It is a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and displays its ugly physique only during the night time. This is why, when you find yourself within right devote Florida, you may hear possum hunters' canines baying and barking. Treed by canine, the possum 'freezes', so It really is simple to lure (or shoot) 1.
An inscription throughout the monument in the center of Wausau cites the possum's role in furnishing 'each fur and meals' through the generations. It goes to say: 'Their existence right here has offered an origin of nutritious and flavorful food items in normal instances and is made up of been an essential aid to human survival when in distress and demanding will need.'
Laugh if you love. The men and women of Wausau will chortle in conjunction with you - even though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.