A spot in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum
A spot in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum
Blog Article
There is a position in Florida that developed a twelve-foot-higher monument in the middle of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone could possibly like to do that?
Nicely, to get started with, heroes are really hard to uncover on this devote Florida - the Panhandle town of Wausau, dwelling of underneath 500 folks in the guts of Washington County about ten miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an unlikely hero to state the least? No one else places the possum over a pedestal. Why don't you Wausau?
Secondly, last 1982, Wausau obtained Sick and tired of currently being left out from the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Every single set set up Florida demands a Pageant. Rather than just one make investments Florida includes a Possum Competition. Why not Wausau?
If you've got in no way attended Washington County, you almost certainly will Assume I'm Consequently, building this up. If you have long gone to Washington County, you can expect to fully grasp - and know This may be a legitimate Tale.
Wausau, it proved, had some quite highly effective possum politicians over the early '80s. Here are a number of factors they accomplished:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the very first Saturday in August as Possum Working day in Florida. That led to your constructing from the monument alongside Point out Highway 77 in Wausau.
They even got America Congress to current market the possum. Congress joined the entertaining by supplying the funds for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau may have a spot to keep its yearly Exciting Day and Possum Pageant. That includes a queen contest and possum auction, between other matters, the Competition appeals to thousands of people today yearly, and they also like it.
Outing for a couple educating of Northerners right here. The South's possum is identical lowly animal you simply call opossum, (Why use 7 letters when 6 will probably do?) It's a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and displays its unsightly overall body only at night. That's why, if you are inside of ideal put in Florida, here you'll be able to listen to possum hunters' canine baying and barking. Treed by canine, the possum 'freezes', thus it can be not so tricky capture (or shoot) just one.
An inscription to the monument in the heart of Wausau cites the possum's purpose in providing 'equally fur and food stuff' through the entire centuries. It goes onto say: 'Their existence listed here has presented a supply of nutritious and flavorful meals in typical instances and it has been a significant help to human survival in periods of distress and significant want.'
Snicker if you prefer. The folks of Wausau will giggle alongside - while downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.