The internet is also rife with guides to surviving Oktoberfest, offering suggestions on which tents to visit and which foods to sample - and how to avoid getting too drunk. Many travel companies offer Oktoberfest packages, and the city of Munich and the German National Tourist office provide travel guides and tips for folks traveling to the festival. In 2017, 6.2 million Oktoberfest revelers consumed 7.7 million liters of beer, along with 466,747 roast chickens, 206,535 pairs of pork sausages, and close to 45,000 kilograms of roasted almonds. Oktoberfest is certainly a major tourist attraction for the city of Munich. The shift to a start date in September stuck: This year, Munich Oktoberfest kicked off on September 22 with the traditional ceremonial keg tapping, and it will continue through October 7.
Though the earliest Oktoberfests were held in the eponymous month to coincide with the anniversary of the first royal festival, by the late 1890s, organizers shifted the start date to late September to catch some milder weather - but by allowing the festival to extend into early October, the name avoided becoming a complete misnomer. The tradition of horse races ended in 1960, but the carnival rides - and the beer tents, of course - remain an essential part of Oktoberfest. Soon after, Munich city officials took up the mantle of planning and running the festival each year, and it grew to include beer and food stands, agricultural competitions, and live cooking. Today, it’s often called just the “Wies’n.” In subsequent years, Oktoberfest expanded to include carousels and swings, which first appeared in 1818, adding a carnival element to the celebration. The following year, the town held the festival in the same location, in a field that was dubbed Theresienwiese, after the princess. The celebration lasted several days, ending on October 17 with horse races. The royal occasion took place a year after a quelled rebellion in a neighboring county, so to establish a sense of unity across the Bavarian state, the family invited about 40,000 citizens to join the festivities at the gates of the city of Munich. The evolution of the current Oktoberfest spans more than 200 years, dating back to the inaugural event on October 12, 1810, and the nuptials of Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Picture Alliance via Getty Images What does Oktoberfest celebrate besides beer? Inside the Schottenhamel beer tent at Oktoberfest 2018 in Munich. Scattered across the grounds, visitors will find carnival games and rides, including carousels, ferris wheels, and what’s called the “Pendulum of Chaos,” a hybrid swing and slingshot ride with two cabins of eight riders swinging in multiple directions. The beer tents feature live brass bands (chosen by each tent proprietor) that perform modern hits and folk music alongside classic German tunes. Visitors liken Oktoberfest to a mashup of beer, food, and music festivals combined with a carnival. In addition to lots of drinking, the festivities also include a costume parade and live music. The celebration kicks off with a gun salute and a ceremonial keg tapping by the city’s mayor. About 6 million people flock to Oktoberfest every year to patronize the 36 beer tents packed into the grounds. The Oktoberfest grounds span a 100-acre swath of land to the west of the city, and is still held on the same site where the original festival was held in 1810. Oktoberfest is a two-week, carbohydrate-filled festival of beer and merriment held in Munich, where the event began in the early 19th century. Here now, a look back on the origins of Oktoberfest, its evolution into the mother of all beer festivals, and how this German tradition became an oft-replicated tradition across the globe.
Some festivities last a day, others for a weekend or two, with the mightiest of all Oktoberfests spanning two weeks from the fall equinox through early October. Oktoberfest now inspires celebrations heavy on the food and beer-drinking all over the world. With roots in Germany, the annual celebration calls to mind beer steins, lederhosen, and pretzels, but with a history that goes back more than 200 years, the story of Oktoberfest is deeper than that stereotypical image. Each year, the start of fall signals it’s almost time for Oktoberfest.
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