During the last weeks of September and the first of October, Munich is host to the biggest beer festivals in the world. If you like beer and brats, Oktoberfest is for you.
Oktoberfest, an annual festival in Munich, Germany, held over a two-week period and ending on the first Sunday in October. The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
The festival concluded five days later with a horse race held in an open area that came to be called Theresienwiese (“Therese’s green”). The following year t
he race was combined with a state agricultural fair, and in 1818 booths serving food and drink were introduced.
By the late 20th century the booths had developed into large beer halls made of plywood, with interior balconies and bandstands. Each of the Munich brewers erects one of the temporary structures, with seating capacities of some 6,000.
The mayor of Munich taps the first keg to open the festival. Total beer consumption during Oktoberfest is upwards of 75,800 hectolitres (about 2 million gallons).
The breweries are also represented in parades that feature beer wagons and floats along with people in folk costumes. Other entertainment includes games,
amusement rides, music, and dancing.
Oktoberfest draws more than six million people each year, many of them tourists. Oktoberfest begins on Saturday, September 19, and ends on Sunday, October 4, 2020.
To keep the Oktoberfest, and especially the beer tents, amicable for the elderly and families, the concept of the “quiet Oktoberfest” was developed in 2005. Until 6:00 pm, the orchestras in the tents only play quiet brass music, for example, traditional folk music. Only after that may Schlager pop or electric music be played, which had led to excess violence in earlier years.
The music played in the afternoon is limited to 85 decibels. With these rules, the organizers of the Oktoberfest were able to curb the tumultuous party mentality and preserve the traditional beer-tent atmosphere. In 2005 Germany’s last traveling enterprise amu
sement ride, the Mondlift returned to the Oktoberfest.
Starting in 2008, a new Bavarian law was passed to ban smoking in all enclosed spaces open to the public. Because of problems enforcing the anti-smoking law in the big tents, an exception was granted to the Oktoberfest in 2008, although the sale of tobacco was not allowed.
After heavy losses in the 2008 local elections, with the smoking ban being a big issue in political debates, the state’s ruling party implemented general exemptions to beer tents and small pubs.
The year 2010 marked the Oktoberfest Bicentennial. For the anniversa
ry, a horse race in historical costumes was held on opening day. A so-called Historische Wiesn (historical Oktoberfest) took place, starting one day earlier than usual on the southern part of the festival grounds.
A specially brewed beer (solely available at the tents of the historical Oktoberfest), horse races, and a museum tent gave visitors an impression of how the event felt two centuries ago.
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