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 devote Florida that constructed a 12-foot-higher monument in the middle of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anybody wish to do that?
Properly, initially off, heroes just take effort and time to uncover With this devote Florida - the Panhandle cash of scotland - Wausau, household of underneath five hundred people in the center of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an not likely hero to state the minimum? No one else puts the possum in excess of a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Next, again 1982, Wausau obtained Bored with being omitted Using the Florida lists of exciting, fairs and festivals. Each place in place Florida desires a festival. And not a single devote Florida contains a Possum Pageant. Why not Wausau?
If you have never been to Washington County, you probably will think I'm producing this up. Should you have gone to Washington County, you'll have an understanding of - and know this is the correct story.
Wausau, it proved, experienced some fairly highly effective possum politicians within the early '80s. Listed below are some things they completed:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the initial Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led into the building from the monument alongside State Highway 77 in Wausau.
They even acquired the United States Congress in promoting the possum. Congress joined the enjoyment by giving the money for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might have a location to assist its yearly Pleasurable Working day and Possum Competition. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, among the other issues, the Competition appeals to Many here of us every year, in addition they adore it.
Day out for many educating of Northerners in this article. The South's possum is definitely the equivalent lowly animal you phone opossum, (Why use 7 letters when six can do?) It's a smallish marsupial that life in trees and reveals its unsightly human body only in the evening. This is why, when you are inside of appropriate spot in Florida, you could hear possum hunters' canine baying and barking. Treed by canines, the possum 'freezes', so it's straightforward more than enough capture (or shoot) one particular.
An inscription on the monument in the heart of Wausau cites the possum's function in furnishing 'both fur and meals' through the entire centuries. It goes to say: 'Their existence right here has furnished an origin of nutritious and flavorful meals in normal periods and has been A vital support to human survival in occasions of distress and significant have to have.'
Laugh should you'd choose. The people of Wausau will laugh along with you - though downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.