Notes

A Place in Florida - Let's Cheer the Lowly Possum
There's Possum Catcher Melbourne that built a 12-foot-high monument in the middle of town to exalt the lowly possum. Now, why would anyone need to do that?
Well, first off, heroes are hard to come by on this devote Florida - the Panhandle city of Wausau, home of less than 500 persons in the center of Washington County about 10 miles south of Chipley.
Why not the possum, an unlikely hero as you would expect? Nobody else puts the possum on the pedestal. Why not Wausau?
Secondly, back 1982, Wausau got sick and tired of being left out of the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Every place in Florida needs a festival. And not one put in place Florida features a Possum Festival. Why not Wausau?
If you haven't attended Washington County, you probably will think I'm creating this up. If you have been to Washington County, you'll understand - and know it is a true story.
Wausau, it ended up, had some pretty powerful possum politicians in the early '80s. Here are two things they accomplished:


They persuaded the Florida Legislature to proclaim the very first Saturday in August as Possum Day in Florida. That led to the building in the monument along State Highway 77 in Wausau.

They even got the United States Congress to market the possum. Congress joined the fun by providing the funds for Wausau's Possum Palace so Wausau may have a location to hold its annual Fun Day and Possum Festival. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, among other things, the festival attracts lots of people every year, and so they adore it.
Time out for some educating of Northerners here. The South's possum is 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, if you are inside the right devote Florida, you can hear possum hunters' dogs baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum 'freezes', so it will be easy to catch (or shoot) one.
An inscription about the monument in the center of Wausau cites the possum's role in providing 'both fur and food' throughout the centuries. It goes to say: 'Their presence here has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food in normal times and it has been a crucial aid to human survival in times of distress and critical need.'
Laugh if you love. The people of Wausau will laugh along - while downing baked possum and sweet potatoes.
Here's my website: https://www.file-upload.com/t1xptob593ub