There's a position in Florida that designed a 12-foot-large monument in the center of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone want to do that?
Effectively, to get started with, heroes are challenging to analysis within just this put in position Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, residence of much less than five hundred people during Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an not likely hero to put it mildly? Nobody else puts the possum on a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, in 1982, Wausau obtained Ill and exhausted with remaining neglected through the Florida lists of exciting, fairs and festivals. Each individual invest Florida would like a Pageant. Rather than 1 area in Florida includes a Possum Pageant. Why not Wausau?
If you have not attended Washington County, you almost certainly will Feel I'm generating this up. Should you have frequented Washington County, you are going to recognize - and know It's a true Tale.
Wausau, it wound up, had some pretty impressive possum politicians in the early '80s. Here's certain things they completed:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the initial Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led on the developing through the monument alongside Point out Highway 77 in Wausau.
They even bought The us Congress to current market the possum. Congress joined the entertaining by giving the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau may need a location to carry its yearly Exciting Day and Possum Festival. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, among the other things, the Competition appeals to lots of folks every year, in addition they like it.
Day trip for some educating of Northerners here. The South's possum is similar lowly animal you get in touch with opossum, (Why use 7 letters when 6 will complete?) It is a smallish marsupial that life in trees and reveals its unpleasant overall body only at night. This is exactly why, whenever you end up inside of ideal make investments Florida, you can listen to possum hunters' puppies baying and barking. Treed by puppies, here the possum 'freezes', so It can be not so challenging to capture (or shoot) one particular.
An inscription for that monument during Wausau cites the possum's job in delivering 'both fur and food items' in the hundreds of years. It goes on to say: 'Their existence in this article has offered an origin of nutritious and flavorful food in regular moments and it has been a very important help to human survival when in distress and significant need to have.'
Giggle if you like. The folks of Wausau will snicker along with you - when downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.