An area in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum

There's a commit Florida that designed a twelve-foot-high monument in the guts of city to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anybody may like to do that?
Very well, to get started on, heroes are hard to return by on this put in Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, home of lower than 500 individuals in the guts of Washington County about ten miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an unlikely hero to put it mildly? No one else places the possum over a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, back 1982, Wausau obtained tired of being disregarded from the Florida lists of pleasurable, fairs and festivals. Every single set in position Florida would like a Competition. Instead of a single area in Florida features a Possum Competition. Why not Wausau?
If you haven't attended Washington County, you almost certainly will Imagine I'm producing this up. For those who have been to Washington County, you can expect to understand - and know this is the legitimate story.
Wausau, it wound up, had some pretty highly effective possum politicians in early '80s. Listed below are a set of things they attained:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the 1st Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led to the developing from the monument alongside Condition Highway seventy seven in Wausau.

They even acquired the United States Congress to advertise the possum. Congress joined the enjoyable by the resources for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau could have a place to hold its yearly Enjoyable Working day and Possum Festival. Showcasing read more a queen contest and possum auction, amongst other issues, the Competition appeals to Lots of people Just about every and each and every year, and in order that they adore it.
Outing for many educating of Northerners below. The South's possum is the same lowly animal you connect with opossum, (Why use seven letters when 6 will perform?) It is a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and displays its unpleasant system only in the evening. That's why, if you are while in the right devote Florida, it is possible to listen to possum hunters' pet dogs baying and barking. Treed by canine, the possum 'freezes', so It really is uncomplicated to capture (or shoot) a person.
An inscription in regards to the monument in the course of Wausau cites the possum's job in supplying 'the two fur and foodstuff' from the total centuries. It goes to say: 'Their presence in this article has furnished a source of nutritious and flavorful meals in normal moments and it's been an important aid to human survival when in distress and significant need.'
Laugh when you'd want. The people of Wausau will laugh along with you - even though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.