Guest Author - Julie Fredrick
Every year, the city of Munich in Germany is host to the world’s largest fair. Oktoberfest is the time when people from all over the world come together to eat sausage, drink beer and celebrate. The sixteen-day festival takes place every year from late September to early October, concluding after the first Sunday in October, drawing upwards of six-million visitors.
This year, 2010, marks the 200th birthday of Oktoberfest. The festival will open with a horse race, with participants wearing historical costumes. This year’s festival runs from September 18th until October 4th. Since its beginning in 1811, Oktoberfest has been cancelled only 24 times due to war, disease and national emergencies.
Cities all over the world hold their own Oktoberfest, but Munich, Bavaria’s Oktoberfest is the originator and granddaddy of them all. In 1950, the tradition began by opening the festival with a twelve-gun salute and the tapping of the keg. The current Mayor of Munich shouts, "O'zapft is!" ("It's tapped!" in theAustro-Bavarian language), handing the first beer to Minister-President of the State of Bavaria.
The Oktoberfest costume and rifleman’s parade is held on the first Sunday of the festival, involving around 7000 performers. This world-famous procession lends insight into the fascinating diversity of Bavarian customs. Stretching 7 km through the city center, and is the highlight of the festival.
During the festival, it is custom to wear cowboy-type hats decorated with a tuft of goat hair, which is highly prized in Bavaria. Until fairly recently, Oktoberfest was an over-the-top, hard partying event. Loud music, public drunkenness and violence led to the passing of a rule to keep music before 6:00 PM quieter and more traditional, to keep the traditional “beer tent” environment alive.
Oktoberfest is much more than just drinking huge steins of beer and Oomph music, though. There are numerous fair rides including roller coasters and ferris wheels, live music performances, street performers and carousels. There are child-friendly and family friendly activities scattered among the myriad of beer-tents. Sausage rules, but beef, chicken, pretzels and other German delights are plentiful.
If you are not a fan of crowded streets and masses of people, Oktoberfest probably is not for you. However, if you want to join in the celebration of the world’s biggest and most famous festivals, then a visit to Munich, Bavaria should be a perfect fit for you.
