"Cootertober" celebrations anger residents

By John Labriola - Outrage over the City of Inverness' plans to spend about $100,000 in taxpayer dollars on a monthlong celebration of Halloween is likely to draw a crowd of angry residents to the city's council meeting this coming Tuesday. 

The city announced plans for its Cootertober festivities at the Sept. 3 council meeting. 

In addition to spending $24,000 in staff time, the city has awarded a $74,000 contract to the Twistid Arts Initiative to organize and promote events such as the Vampire Ball, the Vampire Pub Crawl, Witches and Warlocks Night Out, Spooky Story Time for Kids with former NSYNC singer Lance Bass, the Cooterween trick-or-treating costume contest, and a Historic Haunt at the Old Courthouse, which will use actors who have attended a Scare Acting Workshop and will feature strobe lighting effects, fog, disturbing scents, and jump scares. 

Some of the events are ticketed, others are free. 

"This is awful. Who approved all this weird stuff?" an Inverness resident asked. "I am a Christian and homeowner. How can we stop our taxes from being spent on this evil? I moved here because I thought it was conservative."

Citrus County resident Sandra Driscoll was upset that the city is spending tax dollars to celebrate a month of Halloween-related activities even though it canceled its Christmas manger display at City Hall a number of years ago to avoid offending atheists. 

"I say if that is allowed to happen, THE MANGER SHOULD BE ALLOWED AT THE COURTHOUSE. Otherwise, you do not care about equality for all," she said. 

A video about Cootertober recently went viral on TikTok, putting Inverness on the map for its celebration of the occult.  

Cooterfest started as a three-day festival in 2004, then billed as the “Great American Cooter Festival,” to honor the Florida Cooter, a species of freshwater turtle native to the southeastern U.S. It consisted of family-friendly activities like cooter races, a music festival, and a pet costume contest. In 2023, it morphed into a month-long celebration of Halloween with a new moniker, Cootertober.

The Inverness City Council will meet on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 5:30 p.m. at Inverness City Hall, 212 W Main St, Inverness, FL 34450.

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