There is a devote Florida that designed a twelve-foot-higher monument in the heart of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would everyone really need to do that?
Nicely, to begin with, heroes are complicated to receive within this place in Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, house of underneath 500 persons during Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an unlikely hero as you would be expecting? No one else places the possum over a pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Secondly, previous 1982, Wausau bought sick and Uninterested in remaining neglected from your Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Every single place in position Florida demands a festival. And not a single place in Florida carries a Possum Pageant. Why not Wausau?
If you haven't attended Washington County, you most likely will Assume I'm generating this up. Should you have gone to Washington County, you'll understand - and know this can be a genuine story.
Wausau, it proved, had some pretty highly effective possum politicians through the early '80s. Allow me to share two or three factors they accomplished:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the main Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led to the constructing through the monument alongside Point out Freeway seventy seven in Wausau.
They even got The us Congress in marketing the possum. Congress joined the pleasurable by giving the cash for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might have a spot to hold its yearly Entertaining Day and Possum Competition. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, between other factors, the festival attracts Many individuals each and every year, and so they come across it irresistible.
Outing For most educating of Northerners in this article. The South's possum is analogous lowly animal you call opossum, (Why use seven letters when six will carry out?) It's a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and demonstrates its unappealing body only at nighttime. This is exactly why, if you're within the correct devote Florida, you'll be able to hear possum hunters' dogs baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum 'freezes', so it really is easy to hook (or shoot) one.
An inscription over the monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's position in supplying 'both of those fur and foodstuff' in the hundreds of years. It goes on to say: 'Their existence right here has furnished a useful resource of nutritious and flavorful food stuff in typical situations and it has been a significant aid to human survival when in distress and significant will need.'
Snicker if you want. The individuals read more of Wausau will chuckle along with you - even though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.