WAUSAU — Shaking hands to appeal to voters wouldn’t do for elected officials and political candidates at the 45th Annual Possum Festival.
A few literally shook a possum by the tail to win bids during an auction before they delivered brief speeches in Wausau on Saturday.
“It’s fun. It’s a good way to meet people in the community,” said Shalene Grover, a Marianna attorney who is running for Circuit Court Judge in the 14th Judicial Circuit.
Grover is running against Bay Circuit Judge Jim Fensom and Panama City attorney Gerard Virga, Jr.
The festival is an annual attraction for candidates seeking to win over rural voters. Saturday was Fensom’s first time to attend.
“Wausau is a nice community,” he said in an interview.
Fensom was melting in the humid 92-degree heat, but that didn’t stop him or his posse of campaign supporters from taking part in the celebration that pays homage to the marsupial that helped keep the town alive during the Great Depression.
Jann Daughdrill and Lesley Fontaine of Panama City captured the spirit of the festival and showed support for Fensom by producing seven silly possum paintings bearing his name for the auction in the week prior to the festival.
“It was just something nice we could do for a friend,” Daughdrill said.
Much of the crowd at the Possum Palace venue was made up of supporters with a campaign sign in one hand and a plate of slow-cooked possum, greens and mashed sweet potatoes in the other.
Candidates were allotted three minutes to speak to voters after the auction. Many touched on fixing what is broken about education, immigration, property rights, debt and unemployment. Shrinking government control in order to get back to the constitutional basics was the recurring message.
“I’m here to bring the North Florida way back to Congress,” Democrat U.S. House candidate Gwen Graham said.
Graham said later she wants to build relationships across party lines and have an open door about issues.
“It’s what I know we do every day in North Florida, which is work together even if we have differences,” she said.
Graham outbid her opponent, Republican Congressman Steve Southerland, during the auction, signing a check for $800 to win a pregnant possum. Southerland splurged $250 on his animal.
Southerland clearly enjoyed dressing down to access rural voters, and turned boisterous when he got a possum in his hand.
From what candidates said off the record, the festival was one of the more fun stops during their campaigns. The informal atmosphere allowed them to shine in a more personal light than what is portrayed in their polished campaign ads and public appearances.
“Steve Southerland has just always been a good person and man of his word,” said Dwayne Carter of Shepherd’s Gate Church in Washington County.
Carter said he’s known Southerland since junior high and has never seen him lose his luster as someone who “fights the bigger battles.”
“I admire him for sticking to his roots,” Carter said.