Reasons Why - A festival for young and old

Just like the dog ate my homework, the Cooter Festival ate my life. The past few weeks seem to fly by in preparations of the festival which celebrated the little turtle with the big heart. Now that the festival is here and gone, I’ve had time to reflect on the significance of an event like this to our community.
Granted my role in this festival was a small one, but nonetheless I was a part of the team that produced the most successful Cooter Festival this community has ever seen. From the outside the festival appeared seamlessly put together; an array of vendors, port-a-lets in all the right places, activities for children of all ages, and of course plenty of cooters. (That’s water turtles for any of you who don’t know.)
But it was during the preparations that I had to sit back and wonder why. Why go through the hassle? Why would businesses sign on as sponsors? Why would volunteers spend their weekend selling t-shirts and picking up trash? Why would the City of Inverness and the Chamber devotes months to organizing such an event?
The more I wondered I began to seek out the reasons why. For starters it provided the community with some great activities to participate in. From the downtown Inverness block party to the Miss Cooter and Cooter Idol contests to the Cooter Triathlon and the Cooterween community costume contest, there was an activity for every person in the surrounding areas.
Secondly, it drew in visitors from far beyond the borders of the community. Visitors, who were attracted here and, hopefully, will fall in love with the community and come back for many more visits. Perhaps even someone may have come to visit for the Cooter Festival and decided that Citrus County is the perfect locale to relocate their business to. (Hey, a girl can dream.)
And lastly amongst a list of many other reasons, it gave a boost to our economy. For one weekend in late October, hotels were filled to capacity, restaurants were slammed, and shops were full. Families came out of their homes and without having to spend a dime could enjoy many events at the festival.
None of this would have been possible if all the aforementioned players had not come together to do something for the good of this community. And for something as what some see as silly as a turtle, is actually a big reason why.