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

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

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There is a place set up Florida that constructed a 12-foot-significant monument in the guts of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone choose to do that?
Effectively, to begin with, heroes are complicated to receive on this invest Florida - the Panhandle money of scotland- Wausau, property of less than 500 persons during Washington County about ten miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an not likely hero understandably? Nobody else places the possum with a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Next, back 1982, Wausau got Unwell and Fed up with currently being ignored Together with the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Each and every dedicate Florida demands a Pageant. And never 1 place in Florida carries a Possum Festival. Why don't you Wausau?
If you haven't visited Washington County, you almost certainly will Consider I am producing this up. If you have absent to Washington County, you'll fully grasp - and know It's a true Tale.
Wausau, it proved, experienced some really potent possum politicians in the early '80s. Listed here are a handful of points they completed:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the 1st Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led to the setting up While using the monument along Condition Freeway seventy seven in Wausau.

They even received The usa Congress to promote the possum. Congress joined the entertaining by the cash for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might need a place to hold its once-a-year Fun Working day and Possum Competition. That includes a queen contest and possum auction, between other points, the Pageant attracts plenty of people Each and every and each year, and in order that they come across it irresistible.
Time out for plenty of educating of Northerners in this article. The South's possum is the same lowly animal you phone opossum, (Why use seven letters when six can perform?) It's a smallish marsupial that life in trees and shows its hideous system only at night. That's why, after you find yourself while in the appropriate dedicate Florida, you'll be able to listen to possum hunters' canine baying and barking. Treed by canines, the possum 'freezes', so it is straightforward to hook (or shoot) 1.
An inscription around the monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's purpose in providing 'each fur and foodstuff' from the centuries. It goes on to say: 'Their presence right here has offered a useful resource of nutritious Possum Catcher Melbourne and flavorful food items in usual periods and it's got been an essential support to human survival when in distress and important want.'
Snicker if you like. The men and women of Wausau will snicker along with you - even though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.