The Town of Wausau, Florida Community Development Club is trying to make lemonade out of lemons as they move forward with plans for a somewhat truncated Wausau Possum Festival celebration on the first Saturday of August, this year falling on August 1,
Celebrating 51 years with the 2020 event, the celebration will feature a parade, a commemorative publication celebrating the history of the festival and a virtual Possum King and Possum Queen contest, to be filmed and broadcast, as well as a Quilt Auction, a longtime mainstay of the festival, to be held following the parade on August 1, in front of the Wausau Town Hall.
The publication, the official Wausau Possum Festival Program, sold over $10,000 in ads this year, proceeds of which go to scholarships to local high school students, for use at Florida colleges, technical schools and other post-secondary schools in Florida.
The King and Queen Contest, a longtime favorite element of the festival and typically held on the Friday evening prior to the Parade and Festival, will again serve as a fundraiser, but will take on a more high-tech flavor, with the contest taped and re-broadcast for judging, in response to CDC guidelines and state mandates for social distancing.
The virtual ‘King and Queen Contest’ will feature a $500 First Place prize for Possum King and a $500 First Place prize for Possum Queen, and the winners will be picked by a panel of judges made up of Development Club members.
Contestants interested in participating should contact James Walsingham, Chairman for this year’s Possum Festival, at VernonNole@aol.com or call 850-768-4578.
Developed in 1970 by Dalton Carter, at that time one of the founding members of the Development Club, the Wausau Fun Day and Possum Festival has long been the prime fundraiser for the Wausau Volunteer Fire Department, the Development Club and the Quilters Club in Wausau.
Earlier this month, the Wausau, Florida Town Council agreed to allow the parade if, on the day of the parade, which is August 1, 2020, Florida Governor DeSantis has relaxed social distancing regulations enough to allow the assemblage.
