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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 might like to do that?

Well, to start, heroes are difficult to research within this put in place Florida – the Panhandle town of Wausau, home of under 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 contact us ?

Secondly, back 1982, Wausau got sick and tired of being left out with the Florida lists of fun, fairs and festivals. Every put in place Florida needs a festival. And not one place in Florida features a Possum Festival. Why not Wausau?

If you’ve never attended Washington County, you probably will think I’m causeing this to be up. If you have attended Washington County, you’ll understand – and know this is a true story.

Wausau, it proved, had some pretty powerful possum politicians in early ’80s. Here are a couple 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 in 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 may have a location to carry its annual Fun Day and Possum Festival. Featuring a queen contest and possum auction, among other things, the festival attracts thousands of people each and every year, and so they like 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 will perform?)
Possum removal Brighton ‘s a smallish marsupial that lives in trees and shows its ugly body only at night. That’s why, when you find yourself inside the right invest Florida, you can hear possum hunters’ dogs baying and barking. Treed by dogs, the possum ‘freezes’, so it will be easy capture (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 on say: ‘Their presence here has provided a source of nutritious and flavorful food in normal times and possesses been an essential help to human survival when in distress and critical need.’

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