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topicnews · September 22, 2024

Oktoberfest ticker: Fantastic weather and celebrity crowds ensure a great atmosphere

Oktoberfest ticker: Fantastic weather and celebrity crowds ensure a great atmosphere

Second day of the Oktoberfest starts in wonderful weather with a traditional costume parade

11.34 am: The Wiesn started its second day of celebrations in glorious weather. The Wiesn started its second day of celebrations in glorious weather. In the morning, more than 9,000 people in traditional costumes marched through Munich towards the Oktoberfest. Thousands lined the streets to see the colourful spectacle with riflemen, brewery teams, music bands and marching bands.

Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) and Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) led the honorary carriages. Florian Silbereisen was a surprise guest in Baumgärtner’s carriage. The Münchner Kindl, currently played by the innkeeper’s daughter Franziska Inselkammer, rode far ahead.

Morris dancers and Schäffler, who wanted to cheer people up during the plague with their dance, accompanied the procession. Elaborate traditional costumes with equally elaborate headgear were on display. Groups from many parts of Germany as well as guests from Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Ukraine, among others, joined the seven-kilometer-long procession.

Schwarzenegger appears on stage – Patrice Aminati drinks a beer

Sunday, September 22, 8:07 a.m.: The Munich Oktoberfest is also a magnet for celebrities. On the first day of the festival, there was a visit from Hollywood, as Arnold Schwarzenegger suddenly appeared on the stage in the Marstall tent. Much to the delight of the visitors, he grabbed the baton and conducted the band, as the “Bild” newspaper reports. As the guests celebrated their Arnie, he said: “I love, love Munich, I love Oktoberfest. “It’s the most important festival in the world,” shouts Schwarzenegger.

Also spotted at the Oktoberfest on Saturday were Daniel Aminati (51) and his wife Patrice (29) in the “Käfer Wiesn-Schänke”. For Patrice, it was the first public appearance after her second cancer treatment. “The doctors said I should do everything that is good for me. That’s why there will be a Maß today,” she told “Bild”. Most recently, influencer that the second therapy had worked and that she no longer had “any metastases or tumor markers.”

Finns laugh at Oktoberfest prices

5.20pm: A group from Finland can only laugh at the price of a liter of beer. Laurin from the provincial village of Vehmersalmi near Kuopio traveled to Munich with five friends to celebrate his 30th birthday. “The price is not a problem,” says Suvi. Even for 20 euros, a woman from Munich would still treat herself to a liter at the Oktoberfest.

At 2.31 p.m. there is the “beer offering” at the Oktoberfest

4:00 p.m.: Two and a half hours after the tapping and the start of beer serving at the Oktoberfest, the first so-called “beer victim” landed at the Wiesn medical station. At 2:31 p.m., a 24-year-old visitor from the USA was brought in with the tragedy, reported the operations manager of the Aicher Ambulance.

This has never happened before: Söder in lederhosen for the first time at the Oktoberfest

12.29 pm: Premiere in the Anzapfboxe: For the first time, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) came to the opening of the Oktoberfest in the Schottenhamel festival tent wearing lederhosen. The Franconian native wore embroidered Miesbach deerskin, as is traditional in the Alpine foothills.

He received the first liter of beer after Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) tapped the first barrel at 12 noon. As he tapped the beer, Söder made a connection to the decision on the Union’s candidate for chancellor: When choosing between Berlin and the Oktoberfest, the Oktoberfest is simply better, said the CSU leader.

“O’zapft is!”: Munich Mayor Reiter opens the 189th Oktoberfest

12.00 noon: The Oktoberfest is open. With two blows, Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter tapped the first keg and thus opened the 189th Oktoberfest. He sealed the opening with the cry “O’zapft is!” and then handed the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder the first liter of beer in keeping with tradition. Around six million visitors are expected by October 6th.

The innkeepers’ parade is the first highlight of the Oktoberfest

11.46 am: In sunny weather, the Oktoberfest hosts set off for the festival grounds. They drove through Munich’s city center to the Theresienwiese in horse-drawn carriages, accompanied by brass music and brewery carriages. Thousands lined the streets to watch the parade, the first highlight of the festival.

Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) will tap the first barrel of beer at 12 noon sharp and open the festival. Around six million visitors are expected by October 6th.

Thousands of people were already waiting in the tents on the festival grounds for the Oktoberfest to begin. Many international guests – for example from the USA – also wanted to join in the celebrations on the first day of the Oktoberfest.

Festival grounds opened – Oktoberfest guests storm the tents

Saturday, 21 September, 10.05 a.m.: Race to the beer tent: At exactly 9 a.m. the stewards opened the entrances to the Oktoberfest grounds – and the Wiesn fans stormed off towards the beer tents. More visitors streamed in from all sides, most of them in dirndls and lederhosen.

Observers initially found that the entry controls did not pose a problem. Visitors were able to get to the tents without major traffic jams. And all this in bright sunshine and a white-blue sky: the weather in the Bavarian capital promises a sunny first day of the Oktoberfest this morning.

The first people were already waiting early in the morning, some with blankets, thermos flasks and coffee, others with beer. However, the Oktoberfest guests still have to wait three hours before they can get their first Oktoberfest beer in Munich.

Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) will tap the first barrel of beer at 12:00 sharp, opening the festival. Only when Reiter has toasted with Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on a peaceful meadow will the beer flow for the guests.

Around six million visitors from all over the world are expected at the Theresienwiese by October 6th.

Read more about Oktoberfest on the next page.