A Place in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum
A Place in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum
Blog Article
There's a set in position Florida that crafted a twelve-foot-significant monument during town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would any one might love to do that?
Well, to start with off, heroes are tricky to locate On this invest Florida - the Panhandle funds of scotland - Wausau, residence of below 500 persons throughout Washington County about ten miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an not likely hero as you'll assume? No person else puts the possum around a pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Next, past 1982, Wausau bought fed up with being disregarded within the Florida lists of enjoyment, fairs and festivals. Each and every put in Florida requires a Competition. And not 1 make investments Florida features a Possum Competition. Why don't you Wausau?
If you have not visited Washington County, you most likely will Consider I'm making this up. Should you have been to Washington County, you can expect to fully grasp - and know This may be a correct story.
Wausau, it wound up, experienced some fairly highly effective possum politicians noisy . '80s. Here's two issues they completed:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the main Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led on the constructing on the monument along State Freeway seventy seven in Wausau.
They even obtained the United States Congress to market the possum. Congress joined the pleasurable by the cash for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might have a spot to hold its once-a-year Fun Working day and Possum Competition. Showcasing a queen contest and possum auction, between other factors, the Pageant attracts Many individuals annually, moreover they find it irresistible.
Trip for a lot of educating of Northerners in this article. The South's possum may be the identical lowly animal you simply call opossum, (Why use seven letters when six can do?) It's a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and shows its unsightly entire body only in the evening. This is exactly why, when you are during the appropriate dedicate Florida, you could hear possum hunters' pet dogs baying and barking. Treed by canine, the possum 'freezes', so It really is quick to capture (or shoot) a person.
An inscription for your monument in the middle of Wausau cites the possum's purpose in furnishing 'both of those fur and food items' in the course of the total centuries. It goes on to say: 'Their existence right here has supplied a useful resource of nutritious and flavorful food stuff in usual occasions and possesses been an essential aid to human survival in times of distress and here significant will need.'
Snicker should you'd desire. The folks of Wausau will chuckle along with you - while downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.