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 area in Florida that built a 12-foot-high monument in the guts of city to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would any individual want to do that?
Effectively, to begin, heroes are challenging to return by within this devote Florida - the Panhandle city of Wausau, house of a lot less than five hundred people in the middle of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an not likely hero To place it mildly? Nobody else puts the possum over a pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Secondly, last 1982, Wausau acquired Unwell and Sick and tired of remaining left out in the Florida lists of entertaining, fairs and festivals. Every set in place Florida would like a festival. And not a person devote Florida carries a Possum Competition. Why don't you Wausau?
If you've got hardly ever been to Washington County, you most likely will Assume I am As a result, earning this up. If you have frequented Washington County, you can comprehend - and know this can be a legitimate Tale.
Wausau, it proved, had some fairly potent possum politicians noisy . '80s. Here i will discuss several factors they attained:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the 1st Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led on the developing While using the monument alongside Condition Highway 77 in Wausau.
They even obtained The us Congress to promote the possum. Congress joined the entertaining by the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau could possibly have a location to carry its annual Exciting Day and Possum Festival. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, among other factors, the Competition attracts thousands of people today Every and annually, and so they like it.
Day out for loads of educating of Northerners below. The South's possum is comparable lowly animal you simply call opossum, (Why use seven letters when six can perform?) It is a smallish marsupial that life in trees and exhibits its ugly physique only during the night. This is why, when you find yourself Within the proper commit Florida, you can listen to possum hunters' canines baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum check here 'freezes', so It can be easy more than enough to trap (or shoot) a single.
An inscription for that monument throughout Wausau cites the possum's role in furnishing 'each fur and food stuff' during the whole hundreds of years. It goes on to say: 'Their existence below has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food in usual periods and it's got been a significant assist to human survival in instances of distress and critical need.'
Laugh If you need. The people of Wausau will chortle in conjunction with you - although downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.