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 spend Florida that crafted a 12-foot-substantial monument in the heart of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would everyone want to do that?
Well, to begin with, heroes are complicated for getting on this place in position Florida - the Panhandle city of Wausau, home of fewer than 500 people in the center of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an unlikely hero To place it mildly? No person else puts the possum over a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, in 1982, Wausau got Ill and Sick and tired of currently being overlooked within the Florida lists of exciting, fairs and festivals. Each individual devote Florida desires a festival. Rather than one particular put in position Florida carries a Possum Pageant. Why not Wausau?
If you haven't visited Washington County, you probably will Assume I am causeing this for being up. If you have been to Washington County, you can expect to understand - and know This is actually the accurate Tale.
Wausau, it ended up, experienced some really strong possum politicians inside the early '80s. Listed below are a set of items they attained:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the pretty first Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led on the making from the monument alongside Point out Highway seventy seven in Wausau.
They even received America Congress to sector the possum. Congress joined the enjoyment by providing the cash for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau would have a spot to carry its yearly Enjoyment Day and Possum Competition. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, between other things, the Pageant draws in Many individuals each year, and so check here they like it.
Day trip for the handful of educating of Northerners in this article. The South's possum is similar lowly animal you contact opossum, (Why use 7 letters when six will complete?) It is a smallish marsupial that life in trees and exhibits its unattractive physique only during the night time. This is why, If you're inside correct location in Florida, you could hear possum hunters' canines baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum 'freezes', so it really is not so tricky to hook (or shoot) one particular.
An inscription around the monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's role in giving 'both fur and foodstuff' with the centuries. It goes to say: 'Their existence below has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food items in usual situations and it's got been an essential enable to human survival in the course of occasions of distress and important need to have.'
Laugh for those who'd prefer. The people of Wausau will snicker together with you - when downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.