I don’t know what you did this weekend, but I saw a bunch of cooters … at the Great American Cooter Festival in Iverness, Florida!
It was typical small-town Florida festival — vendors carrying Confederate flags, scented candles and fried dough. But there were also cooter races, Miss Cooter 2007 and a Cooter Idol contest. Sadly I did not get to eat cooter. Although they sell rattlesnake meat at the annual Rattlesnake Festival in Dade City, I couldn't get a bite of cooter anywhere around Inverness.
This might be a good time to point out that a “cooter†is a Southern term for turtle, specifically red- and yellow-belly sliders. Although, some people call it a double entendre. And while we're on this point: A co-worker suggested that this type of festival could only happen with the slang term referring to the female anatomy and not the male. I beg to differ and present University of South Carolina's "Cockfest" as Exhibit A. (South Carolina, by the way, also started the first Cooter Festival.)
Anywho, this was the festival’s fourth year. Despite a hubbub over the name in 2004 — in which some citizens questioned the city’s sponsorship of the event — the festival has gradually attracted more and more visitors. Even Comedy Central has done a piece on the event.
If you haven’t had the chance to go, I’d suggest checking it out next year. And don’t forget to buy a T-shirt.
