There's a place in Florida that built a 12-foot-high monument during town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone want to do that?
Well, to start with, heroes are hard to get in this place in Florida - the Panhandle capital of scotland- Wausau, home of fewer than 500 persons in the middle 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 fed up with being left out with the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Every place in Florida wants a festival. And not one invest Florida has a Possum Festival. Why pop over to this website ?
If you haven't visited Washington County, you probably will think I'm creating this up. If you have attended Washington County, you'll understand - and know this is the true story.
Wausau, it turned out, had some pretty powerful possum politicians in the early '80s. Here are a pair of things they accomplished:
They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the initial Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led to the building from the monument along State Highway 77 in Wausau.
They even got the United States Congress in promoting the possum. Congress joined the fun by the funds for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau might have a place to support its annual Fun Day and Possum Festival. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, among other things, the festival attracts many people annually, plus they like it.
Time out for a few educating of Northerners here. The South's possum is the identical lowly animal you call opossum, (Why use seven letters when six can 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 devote Florida, you can hear possum hunters' dogs baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum 'freezes', so it will be not difficult to catch (or shoot) one.
An inscription around the monument in the center of Wausau cites the possum's role in providing 'both fur and food' through the entire centuries. It goes on to say: 'Their presence here has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food in normal times and contains been a crucial aid to human survival during times of distress and critical need.'
Laugh if you'd prefer. The people of Wausau will laugh along - while downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.