There's a invest Florida that crafted a 12-foot-large monument all through town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would any one would like to perform that?
Properly, to start with, heroes are tricky to uncover on this set in position Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, residence of beneath five hundred people in the center of Washington County about ten miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an unlikely hero to convey the least? No one else puts the possum on the pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Secondly, in 1982, Wausau received sick and worn out with staying overlooked through the Florida lists of exciting, fairs and festivals. Every invest Florida desires a Pageant. Instead of one put in position Florida carries a Possum Festival. Why don't you Wausau?
If you have never attended Washington County, you most likely will Consider I'm As a result, generating this up. If you have gone to Washington County, you will understand - and know It's a real Tale.
Wausau, it ended up, experienced some quite potent possum politicians through the early '80s. Allow me to share two issues they accomplished:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the main Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led towards the setting up with the monument along Point out Freeway 77 in Wausau.
They even more info received The us Congress to promote the possum. Congress joined the exciting as a result of providing the cash for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might need a place to maintain its once-a-year Exciting Working day and Possum Festival. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, between other issues, the Pageant appeals to heaps of folks Every single and annually, and in order that they come across it irresistible.
Day trip for any handful of educating of Northerners below. The South's possum is identical lowly animal you simply call opossum, (Why use 7 letters when 6 will do?) It is a smallish marsupial that life in trees and demonstrates its unpleasant physique only at nighttime. That's why, Should you be inside the correct place set up Florida, it is possible to listen to possum hunters' pet dogs baying and barking. Treed by canine, the possum 'freezes', so it is very simple enough to catch (or shoot) a person.
An inscription on the monument in the heart of Wausau cites the possum's part in providing 'the two fur and food stuff' through the full hundreds of years. It goes on to say: 'Their existence in this article has supplied an origin of nutritious and flavorful foods in usual times and possesses been a significant help to human survival when in distress and important want.'
Laugh if you prefer. The people today of Wausau will giggle with you - although downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.