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's a devote Florida that built a 12-foot-substantial monument in the heart of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would any individual could possibly love to do that?
Perfectly, to begin with, heroes are tricky to come by within this spend Florida - the Panhandle capital of scotland- Wausau, house of beneath five hundred people in the middle of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an not likely hero understandably? Nobody else places the possum around the pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, final 1982, Wausau received Bored with getting neglected With all the Florida lists of exciting, fairs and festivals. Every single spend Florida would like a Pageant. And never one particular place in Florida features a Possum Festival. Why not Wausau?
If you haven't long gone to Washington County, you almost certainly will Feel I am building this up. When you have been to Washington County, you can fully grasp - and know this is a real story.
Wausau, it turned out, experienced some really effective possum politicians throughout the early '80s. Allow me to share two issues they accomplished:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the pretty to start with Saturday in August as Possum Day click here in Florida. That led towards the making Together with the monument together Point out Freeway seventy seven in Wausau.
They even acquired the United States Congress in endorsing the possum. Congress joined the fun by offering the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might need a location to maintain its yearly Exciting Working day and Possum Competition. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, amongst other points, the festival draws in thousands of people today on a yearly basis, as well as they like it.
Day out for some educating of Northerners below. The South's possum is the same lowly animal you simply call opossum, (Why use 7 letters when 6 will do?) It is a smallish marsupial that life in trees and reveals its unsightly human body only during the night time. That's why, if you're during the right location in Florida, you are able to listen to possum hunters' puppies baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum 'freezes', so It is straightforward to entice (or shoot) a single.
An inscription on the monument in the center of Wausau cites the possum's purpose in supplying 'equally fur and food stuff' in the full centuries. It goes on to say: 'Their existence listed here has presented an origin of nutritious and flavorful food stuff in ordinary situations and it has been a crucial aid to human survival in periods of distress and significant want.'
Snicker in case you'd prefer. The men and women of Wausau will laugh with you - although downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.