When was the last time you stayed on Courthouse Square after the art booths closed? The Inverness Festival of the Arts has been a juried show since 1971, and for most of that time it worked like a daytime event. You walked the booths and went home. In 2026 the city and the festival committee are building it to run later. The Saturday schedule lasts into the evening, and jazz plays after dark.
That matters because downtown changed this year. A fire in April closed a deli for four months. A barbecue restaurant opened on Main Street in September. A brewery that had been on Tompkins Street for about seven years is gone. When people stay downtown after dark on November 7, they'll find a different square than the one they knew last fall.
The Festival Is Running Later
The City of Inverness event listing has the festival at Downtown Inverness, 207 Courthouse Square, on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free both days.
The 2026 changes came out at an October 5 city council meeting. Citizen Portal's summary says Christy Brown of the festival committee previewed these additions:
- Extended Saturday hours, which she presented as a way to support downtown businesses
- Student exhibits inside the Valerie Theatre
- Live art demonstrations
- Late-night jazz in an entertainment district
- Free family activities
Most of that list adds to Saturday evening on the square. The art is still the main draw. In its June announcement, the city said the festival keeps adding fine crafts alongside fine art, with artists and craftspeople from across the country. Fine crafts aren't brand new, though. The city's 2025 exhibitor packet already listed fine crafts as a juried category, along with clay, glass, jewelry, wood, photography, watercolor and others. Think of it as a category that's growing.
The 2025 packet also gives a sense of the show's size. It says the festival typically receives about 100 applications a year and selects an average of 70 artists, and it lists People's Choice and Purchase Awards.
The Restaurants and Bars Around the Square This Year
If the extra Saturday hours are meant to help downtown businesses, it's fair to ask which businesses are open. Since spring, the answer has changed in three places.
- Hometown Deli, 103 N. Apopka Ave. The deli closed in April after an explosion at Storm Distillery next door damaged it. The Citrus County Chronicle reported a reopening date of Monday, Aug. 31, with regular hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting Sept. 8. A later Chronicle story confirmed that Aug. 31 was its first day back. On festival Saturday, the deli works for breakfast or an early lunch. It closes before the evening program starts.
- Artman's Smokehouse, 301 W. Main St. This barbecue restaurant took over the former Angelo's Pizzeria & Ristorante space. The Chronicle reported it was set to open Tuesday, Sept. 1, with hours of 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. On October 12, the city named Artman's as the sponsor of a dinner for two in its photo contest. Those hours mean it's still serving for an hour after the booths close on Nov. 7.
- Nine State Brewery, 200 Tompkins St. The Chronicle reported that the brewery closed its downtown location after about seven years. The brewery's own website calls the closure temporary and says it plans to come back "in a BIG, BIG way." It doesn't give a date or location.
The explosion behind the deli's closure happened on April 17, 2026. WFLA reported that the fire shut down every road into downtown Inverness that day. Six months later, downtown is getting ready for its busiest weekend of the fall.
Three Weeks on the Square, in Order
The festival is the biggest event, but it's one of several. Here's how the first three weeks of November line up downtown, based on City of Inverness listings:
- Sunday, Nov. 1, 2:30 p.m. Under Siege Enterprises stages Misery at the Valerie Theatre on Courthouse Square.
- Friday, Nov. 6, around 6 p.m. A free Toy Story 5 movie night at Liberty Park, 286 N. Apopka Ave., with food and other vendors.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, and Sunday, Nov. 8. The Festival of the Arts on the square. Market at the Depot also meets on the first and third Saturdays, which would put a market on festival Saturday at the Depot Pavilion. The city's November calendar only lists the Nov. 21 date.
- Wednesday, Nov. 11. The 34th Annual Veterans Day Parade downtown. The city's Oct. 16 notice says Veterans of Citrus County will announce the time, route and how to take part.
- Saturday, Nov. 14, 5 to 9 p.m. Small Town Saturday Night on the Downtown Square. Free live music, with bands not yet announced.
- Saturday, Nov. 21, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Two events run at the same time a block apart. The Farm City Festival fills Liberty Park, put on with the Hernando-Citrus Farm Bureau, the Agricultural Alliance of Citrus County and local farmers. Market at the Depot sets up at 300 N. Apopka Ave. with produce, homemade goods, seafood, plants and local crafts.
Liberty Park and the Depot Pavilion sit a block apart on North Apopka Avenue, and Hometown Deli is on the same street. The Nov. 6 movie night ends one evening and the festival starts the next morning, so the first weekend runs from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. Nov. 14 is another evening event, with music on the square from 5 to 9 p.m. Three of the month's downtown events run after dark, which fits the evening hours the festival is adding.
Check the Veterans of Citrus County site for parade details as Nov. 11 gets closer. The organizers haven't released a time or route yet. The Christmas parade comes after all of this, on Dec. 12, on a route that the Citrus County Chamber says runs through downtown toward Citrus High School.
Getting Around the Square on Festival Weekend
The city hasn't posted 2026 road closures or parking instructions for the festival. The only reference point is last year's exhibitor packet. For the November 2025 show, vehicles weren't allowed in the event area from 6 p.m. Friday until 4 p.m. Sunday, and artists got free parking in municipal lots. If 2026 works the same way, the square would be closed to cars from about the time the movie night starts on Friday until the festival ends Sunday afternoon. That's a 2025 rule, though, and the city's Festival of the Arts page is where the 2026 plan will appear.
If you live within walking distance of the square, the weekend is easy. If you're driving in from Highlands, Inverness Golf & Country Club or out past the trail, plan around the closed streets. The Friday-evening and Saturday-evening events are the two times when parking around the square and the Valerie Theatre is likely to be hardest to find.
If you go out after the booths close on Saturday, Artman's serves until 8. Hometown Deli covers breakfast and lunch, the jazz program is in the evening, and the space at 200 Tompkins St. that used to be Nine State has no announced replacement.
Downtown traffic and evening crowds like these are part of what a home near Courthouse Square is worth, and that's hard to see in a sales comp. If you own near downtown Inverness and want to know where your home's value stands this fall, Tyler Ross can put together a valuation based on what's actually selling in your part of town. Get Your Instant Home Valuation, and if the festival weekend has you thinking about a move, we can talk it through on the square.
