A Place in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly PossumPosted by Chavez Lang on June 3rd, 2021 There's a put in place Florida that built a 12-foot-high monument in the center of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone need to do that? Well, to start with, heroes take time and effort to get with this place in Florida - the Panhandle city of Wausau, home of fewer than 500 persons in the center of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley. Why not the possum, an unlikely hero understandably? Nobody else puts the possum on the pedestal. Why not Wausau? Secondly, back 1982, Wausau got tired of being left out with the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Every devote Florida wants a festival. And not one place in Florida includes a Possum Festival. Why not Wausau? If you haven't been to Washington County, you probably will think I'm causeing this to be up. If visite site have gone to Washington County, you'll understand - and know this is a true story. Wausau, it turned out, had some pretty powerful possum politicians during the early '80s. Here are www.paulthepossumcatcher.com.au/media-reviews/ of things they accomplished: They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the first Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led to the building with the monument along State Highway 77 in Wausau. They even got the United States Congress to promote the possum. Congress joined the fun through providing the funds for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau would have a place to hold its annual Fun Day and Possum Festival. Featuring Possum Removal Melbourne and possum auction, among other things, the festival attracts thousands of people each and every year, plus they find it irresistible. Time out for many educating of Northerners here. The South's possum is identical lowly animal you call opossum, (Why use seven letters when six will do?) It's a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and shows its ugly body only at night. That's why, when you're inside the right place in Florida, you can hear possum hunters' dogs baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum 'freezes', therefore it is simple enough to trap (or shoot) one. An inscription for the monument in the center of Wausau cites the possum's role in providing 'both fur and food' throughout the centuries. It goes on say: 'Their presence here has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food in normal times and it has been an important assist to human survival during times of distress and critical need.' Laugh if you'd prefer. The people of Wausau will laugh together with you - while downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.Like it? Share it! More by this author |