There's a invest Florida that crafted a 12-foot-substantial monument for the duration of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would any person have to do that?
Properly, very first off, heroes are difficult to analysis on this set in position Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, household of beneath five hundred individuals in the heart of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an unlikely hero To place it mildly? No one else puts the possum about a pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Secondly, back again 1982, Wausau acquired Unwell and tired with becoming left out during the Florida lists of enjoyable, fairs and festivals. Every set set up Florida needs a Pageant. Rather than a person location in Florida features a Possum Competition. Why don't you Wausau?
If you have never long gone to Washington County, you almost certainly will Imagine I'm producing this up. If you have long gone to Washington County, you will understand - and know it is a legitimate story.
Wausau, it proved, had some fairly impressive possum politicians during the early '80s. Listed below are two items they completed:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the quite very first Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led to the creating through the monument alongside Point out Freeway 77 in Wausau.

They even bought America Congress to publicize the possum. Congress joined the fun by giving the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might have an area to assistance its annual Fun Day and Possum Festival. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, amongst other factors, the Pageant appeals to tons of folks each year, and so that they like more info it.
Outing for loads of educating of Northerners below. The South's possum is comparable lowly animal you connect with opossum, (Why use 7 letters when six will probably do?) It is a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and reveals its unattractive body only at night. That's why, if you're Within the appropriate put in Florida, you may hear possum hunters' pet dogs baying and barking. Treed by canine, the possum 'freezes', so It can be not so tricky to hook (or shoot) a single.
An inscription concerning the monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's purpose in providing 'equally fur and foodstuff' with the whole centuries. It goes on to say: 'Their presence in this article has provided a resource of nutritious and flavorful food items in typical situations and incorporates been an important support to human survival for the duration of periods of distress and demanding will need.'
Snicker if you like. The folks of Wausau will laugh in addition to you - when downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.