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

There is a set in position Florida that crafted a twelve-foot-superior monument in the center of city to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would any one would like to accomplish that?
Effectively, to get started on, heroes are challenging to have on this set set up Florida - the Panhandle city of Wausau, home of much less than five hundred individuals during Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an unlikely hero understandably? Nobody else places the possum on a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, in 1982, Wausau got Unwell and fatigued with being neglected inside the Florida lists of enjoyment, fairs and festivals. Each individual spot in Florida requires a Pageant. And never a single position in Florida includes a Possum Pageant. Why not Wausau?
If you have never attended Washington County, you almost certainly will Believe I'm So, building this up. If you have attended Washington County, you may comprehend - and know this can be a legitimate story.
Wausau, it turned out, experienced some quite effective possum politicians in the course of the early '80s. Listed below are two items they attained:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the Preliminary Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led for the constructing through the monument alongside State Freeway 77 in Wausau.

They even got the United States Congress in selling the possum. Congress joined the entertaining by the resources for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might have a location to guidance its annual Pleasurable Working day and Possum Festival. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, among the other items, the Pageant attracts Lots of individuals Each individual and on a yearly basis, and so they find it irresistible.
Outing for lots of educating of Northerners here. The South's possum is similar lowly animal you phone opossum, (Why read more use seven letters when 6 will do?) It's a smallish marsupial that life in trees and displays its unsightly system only in the evening. That is why, In case you are in the suitable spot in Florida, you'll be able to listen to possum hunters' dogs baying and barking. Treed by puppies, the possum 'freezes', for that reason it is actually very simple sufficient to capture (or shoot) 1.
An inscription round the monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's job in providing 'each fur and foods' throughout the total hundreds of years. It goes onto say: 'Their existence in this article has delivered an origin of nutritious and flavorful meals in standard instances and has been an essential aid to human survival when in distress and demanding want.'
Snicker if you want. The persons of Wausau will laugh with you - even though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.