An area in Florida - Let us Cheer the Lowly Possum
An area in Florida - Let us Cheer the Lowly Possum
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There's a place in Florida that built a 12-foot-high monument in the midst of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anybody choose to do that?
Very well, to start with, heroes are difficult to analysis inside of this set in place Florida - the Panhandle metropolis of Wausau, property of less than five hundred persons in the center of Washington County about ten miles south of Chipley.
Why don't you the possum, an not likely hero To place it mildly? No one else puts the possum having a pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Secondly, again in 1982, Wausau obtained Ill and Sick and tired of getting omitted from the Florida lists of enjoyment, fairs and festivals. Every devote Florida would like a Competition. And never just one put in Florida features a Possum Competition. Why don't you Wausau?
If you haven't been to Washington County, you probably will Imagine I'm developing this up. When you have attended Washington County, you are going to recognize - and know It is just a accurate Tale.
Wausau, it proved, had some pretty impressive possum politicians inside the early '80s. Here are two things they accomplished:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the quite very first Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led into the developing through the monument alongside Point out Freeway 77 in here Wausau.
They even bought America Congress to sector the possum. Congress joined the exciting by the cash for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau could have an area to keep its yearly Entertaining Day and Possum Pageant. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, amid other issues, the Pageant appeals to Lots of individuals annually, in addition they like it.
Day out for any couple of educating of Northerners below. The South's possum is analogous lowly animal you simply call opossum, (Why use seven letters when six can perform?) It is a smallish marsupial that life in trees and shows its ugly physique only during the night time. That's why, if you end up in the suitable position in Florida, you are able to listen to possum hunters' puppies baying and barking. Treed by pet dogs, the possum 'freezes', so it's not so tricky to trap (or shoot) a person.
An inscription over the monument in the heart of Wausau cites the possum's purpose in furnishing 'the two fur and foods' throughout the full generations. It goes on to say: 'Their presence right here has delivered an origin of nutritious and flavorful meals in standard moments and it has been a very important help to human survival through situations of distress and significant have to have.'
Laugh If you need. The people today of Wausau will snicker as well as you - whilst downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.