Cootertober is a month-long celebration in honor of the native Cooter turtle. With a mascot named "Sunny Cooter", this celebration is part tradition, part legend, with a little bit of crazyness thrown in for good measure. The month-long October celebration features a wide array of events including concerts, markets, family activities, and Halloween and seasonally themed events throughout the downtown area of Inverness.

This hugely popular festival has a long and tumultous history. For nearly two decades, Inverness hosted the wildly popular, free, and intentionally goofy Great American Cooter Festival during the last weekend of October. It featured craft vendors, a carnival atmosphere, and the famous "cooter races" (where kids urged local freshwater turtles across a finish line). It even gained national fame when The Daily Show did a satirical segment on it because of the festival's innuendo-heavy name.

In 2022, city officials decided to retire the free, quirky turtle festival. They wanted to utilize the newly upgraded lakefront at Liberty Park and the Depot District for a grander, ticketed event. They partnered with a music promoter to launch the Inverness Country Jam—a three-day, paid admission country music festival headlined by major throwback acts like Sawyer Brown, Sammy Kershaw, and Lorrie Morgan.

The Country Jam didn't quite land the way the city hoped. Many locals were upset that the free, family-friendly community tradition had been replaced by an expensive, gated concert series. Furthermore, ticket sales for the Country Jam were disappointing, and the budget to run it a second year skyrocketed. Realizing they had lost the unique charm that made Inverness stand out, the City Council pulled the plug on the Country Jam after just one year.To fix it, they partnered with the local Twistid Arts Initiative in 2023 to bring the "cooter" spirit back, rebranding the entire month of October as Cootertober. Instead of just one weekend, Cootertober became a month-long celebration packed with smaller community events, Halloween festivities (like "Cooterween"), and the Cooter Music Festival—returning the event to its roots as a vendor-friendly, accessible celebration.
Activities & Facilities

RestaurantPlaygroundArts/crafts vendorsLive musicShort hiking trails

• Cootertober official website

Note: The dates of annual events and festivals are subject to change from year to year. Before planning your trip, be sure to check the links above for the actual dates, times, and schedule of activities.