Oktoberfest history

Oktoberfest history - the fest through the ages

This year marks 200 years since the Oktoberfest first had Munich jumping.
Yes, 2010 is the anniversary of the event, but only the 177th festival due to the occasional cancellation.
What better time to take a look back and see how it all began?

Off and racing!

The first Oktoberfest When Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig chose to wed Princess Therese in 1810 it’s unlikely he knew the size of the beast he was about to unleash.

RACE DAY: A painting showing a horserace in the early days of the festival.

To celebrate the October 12 nuptials he organised a public horserace five days later on the site of today’s Oktoberfest, then a humble meadow outside the city of Munich.

Ludwig was a classical history freak and so modelled the day on the ancient Olympic Games.
There were other sporting events held too and, to a degree, the event inspired the modern Olympics we know today. Everyone had such a great time they decided to do it again the following year and a tradition was born.

Princess Therese lives on in the name of the Oktoberfest field, Theresienwiese, although it’s usually abbreviated by Munich locals to Wiesn.
As Munich grew so did the festival, with carousels and stands selling lottery stands joining the fray over the decades.

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The party gets bigger

Two indelible Munich landmarks, the Bavaria Statue and the Ruhmeshalle (Hall of Fame) were added to the Wiesn about 1850.
The suds didn’t start flowing until 1881 when the city council opened the door to beer sales and the first grilled chicken stand. Stalls and booths, some thrown up around trees which you climb for a pint, spread across the meadow like wildfire.

BARBECUE: A man tends to grilled fish over an outdoor fireplace at the 1928 Oktoberfest.

The first Oktoberfest opening procession took place in 1887. Towards the end of the 19th century someone had the great idea of bringing the fest forward a little to take advantage of the friendlier weather.

But it’s still known as Oktoberfest, of course, even though most of it takes place in September. The maze of small stands gave way to large beer tents in 1896.
The tents were set up by wealthy landlords with the backing of Munich’s breweries and contained room for bandstands.
Carousels and stalls took up the remaining space and the Oktoberfest as we know it today really started to take shape.

BEER HERE: Oktoberfest waitresses outside the Hofbräu-Festzelt in 1928.

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Twentieth century

BULL: A magazine cover from 1908 emphasising the agricultural aspect of the festival.

The biggest beer tent that’s ever been, the
Bräurosl, opened in 1913 with enough space to fit 12,000 guests.
The Bräurosl’s still there but now has about half that capacity.

Today’s biggest tent is the Hofbräu-Festzelt which seats about 10,000.

The traditional opening ceremony started in 1950. Munich’s Lord Mayor got festivities underway by banging a tap into the first keg and yelling "O'zapft is!" (It’s tapped).

Though the horse races ended in 1960, an agricultural show is still held every three years.

It’s called the Bayerisches Zentral-Landwirtschaftsfest and the next one will be in 2010.

About 7.1 million visitors came in 1985, making it the busiest Oktoberfest ever.

FAMOUS FACES: Entertainers Lisl Karlstadt, Bertold Brecht and Karl Valentin at Oktoberfest in the 1920s.

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Bomb attack

September 26, 1980 must be the saddest day in Oktoberfest history. A bomb attack near the main entrance killed 13 people and left over 200 injured. Some victims needed both legs amputated.

It was one of the two deadliest terror attacks on German soil since the World War Two.
Right-wing extremist Gundolf Köhler, who died in the attack, was named as the only culprit. But a debate has raged for decades over whether or not he really acted alone.

The Oktoberfest wasn’t cancelled that year after the bombing, a move for which the organisers coped a lot of stick for.
A small memorial was unveiled at the site of the attack in 2008.

REMEMBER SEPTEMBER: The memorial where the attack happenened in 1980. Pic: CC Wikimedia

Oktoberfest today

The Munich Oktoberfest kicks on strong as a hippo on Red Bull. An average Wiesn pumps about €1 billion through Munich’s cash registers and money belts. But visitor numbers for 2009 were disappointingly down on the previous year.

Despite beautiful weather only about 5.7 million visitors went, 300,000 less than 2008. The financial crisis and terrorist threats from the underlings of one Osama Bin Laden were blamed for the slump.

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WIPEOUT: A storm reaching speeds of 100kph knocked the just-built Oktoberfest tents flat in August, 1951.

Storm in an ashtray

Another hot potato has been the debate whether or not to ban smoking in the tents. A Bavaria passed a law in 2008 that banned smoking in all closed spaces open to the public – this should have included the Oktoberfest tents.

Fierce opposition followed. The law was whittled back and many pubs and clubs have been allowed to become smoking venues again.
Opponents of the ban claimed making thousands of smokers leave a tent for a quick puff every half hour constituted more of a fire hazard than letting them smoke inside. They got their way and the blue fog continues to rise.
A new push for a total smoking ban in public venues could, however, turn things around again.

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Trouble in beer paradise

BACK: A magazine made for Oktoberfest in 1949. It was the first one for 11 years following the Second World War. A Maß of beer cost 2 Deutschmarks, about 1€ in today's money.

It’s been 200 years since the Oktoberfest began, so why isn’t this the 200th Oktoberfest?
The party’s been cancelled 24 times – here’s why

▪1813 – First cancellation due to war against Napoleon

▪1854 – Cholera epidemic

▪1866 – Bavaria fought alongside Austria in a war against Prussia (now Northern Germany and parts of Poland)

▪1873 – Another cholera epidemic

▪1914 to 1918 – World War One

▪1919 to 1920 – Recovery from the war, a small “autumn festival” with only (Doh!) two percent beer, was held instead

▪1923 to 1924 – Hyperinflation strikes Germany, no-one could afford it

▪1939 to 1945 – World War Two

▪1946 to 1948 – Recovery from the war, more piss-weak autumn festivals held instead

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