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There’s a put in place Florida that built a 12-foot-high monument in the heart of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone might like to do that?

Well, to start with, heroes are difficult to come by within this invest Florida – the Panhandle capital of scotland- Wausau, home of less than 500 persons during Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.

Why not the possum, an unlikely hero understandably? Nobody else puts the possum on a pedestal. Why not Wausau?

Secondly, last 1982, Wausau got fed up with being left out from the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Every put in place Florida wants a festival. And not one invest Florida carries a Possum Festival. Why not Wausau?

If you haven’t attended Washington County, you probably will think I’m thus, making this up. If you have been to Washington County, you’ll understand – and know this can be a 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 first Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led to the building of the monument along State Highway 77 in Wausau.

They even got the United States Congress in promoting the possum. Congress joined the fun by giving the funds for Wausau’s Possum Palace so Wausau may have a place to keep its annual Fun Day and Possum Festival. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, among other things, the festival attracts thousands of people annually, and so they love it.

Time out for a lot of educating of Northerners here. you can check here is the same lowly animal you call opossum, (Why use seven letters when six is going to do?) It’s a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and shows its ugly body only at night. That’s why, when you are inside right put in place Florida, you can hear possum hunters’ dogs baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum ‘freezes’, therefore it is simple enough to hook (or shoot) one.

An inscription around the monument in the heart of Wausau cites the possum’s role in providing ‘both fur and food’ through the centuries. It goes on say: ‘Their presence here has provided an origin of nutritious and flavorful food in normal times and it has been an important help to human survival during times of distress and critical need.’

Laugh if you like. The people of Wausau will laugh with you – while downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.