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topicnews · September 21, 2024

It moves with the times: Why the Oktoberfest will always be special and expensive.

It moves with the times: Why the Oktoberfest will always be special and expensive.

Munich – Now there are also metal detectors. They are to be used at the entrances to the Oktoberfest “on a random basis and based on suspicion”. 2,200 stewards check, 600 police officers patrol the festival grounds. Never before has so much effort been made to protect the largest folk festival in the world. Now, after Solingen. And after the foiled attack on Israel’s general consulate recently.

Mayor Reiter asks for patience if there are “longer waiting times” at the entrance. Ten years ago, when there was no fence around the area, hundreds of well-drunk teenagers waited for hours at dusk for the tents to go up. It seems like an eternity.

Since then, there has always been something going on. Pandemics, war, Islamism. The perceived global hype that previously threatened to bring the festival to its knees has died down a little. That has done the Oktoberfest good. Even the record-breaking Oktoberfest in 2023 with 7.2 million visitors on an exceptional 18 (!) days has left no bad memories.

And isn’t that exactly the essence of the Oktoberfest? It has always been a place of forgetting and forgetting oneself – and it has never been cheap in its history. Who gets annoyed about the entry control when drinking their third beer? Who is annoyed by high prices when flying around in the Wild Mouse?

The Oktoberfest is also changing: significantly more organic, vegan food, green electricity

The desire to go to the Oktoberfest is not a matter of consideration, but rather a decision to break boundaries. The Oktoberfest is not a place for reason – fortunately, and quite the opposite – but for letting yourself go. That is why people love it so much – and hold it so dear.

The Oktoberfest is a costly affair. And how. In five large tents, a liter of festival beer costs 15 euros or more. The landlords point out that food has become 20 percent more expensive in the last five years, that energy and personnel costs have risen, and that more money is being spent on security. This is a familiar saying in Munich. For years.

Beer prices at the Oktoberfest 2024: This is how much a liter of beer costs at the Wiesn



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Probably the most classic Wiesn dish: half a chicken. Photo: Frank Leonhardt/dpa

Chicken prices: If you want a snack at the Oktoberfest, you have to dig deep into your pockets…



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What is somewhat new, however, is that the organizers are making a real effort to convince even notorious Wiesn despisers and yes-but-worriers of their offer: significantly more organic, vegan food, green electricity, a (still very delicate) sustainability offensive together with Bioland, gay and lesbian events beyond the Bräurosl – after more than 200 years, the Oktoberfest will move with the times.

But the landlords all agreed that the idea of ​​opening a completely alcohol-free beer garden was complete nonsense. We’ll see when the time is right.

The Oide Wiesn comes unexpectedly into action

Not everything has to be bad just because it’s old-fashioned. The crinoline, for example, has been spinning at the Oktoberfest since 1925; Manfred Schauer has been knocking guests’ heads off as Schichtl since 1985. Only the oldest Oktoberfest accompaniment (apart from bottom-fermented beer) has struck this year.

The Central Agricultural Festival (ZLF), which has taken place on the Theresienwiese since 1811 (in a different form at the time), has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Too few exhibitors have registered. This is a relief for the exhibitors at the Oidn Wiesn, who are therefore getting an unexpected chance.

The Oide has only been around since 2010 (on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Oktoberfest), and the name is also a deception. Nevertheless, unlike the ZLF, which is not due to return until 2028, the organizers are fighting for participation. This year they even went to court.

The Boandlkramerei run by the host family Peter and Petra Schöniger has finally replaced Beppi Bachmaier’s Herzkasperl tent. Because Lorenz Stiftl’s Schützenlisl tent has only been standing next door for two years, the Oide Wiesn should, if you look at it closely, actually be called the Neueste Wiesn.

Munich child Franziska Inselkammer at the host parade at the Wiesn 2023.

Münchner Kindl: “Sometimes people complain that I don’t speak properly…”

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View over the Wiesn, taken from the Ferris wheel. (Archive photo)

Wiesn 2024: An overview of the Oktoberfest tents



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At least the entrance fee to the Oidn Wiesn, which is surrounded by a small fence in the middle of the large fence, has remained stable compared to last year. Four euros. For Munich residents or those who count themselves among them, that is the price to get beer from the Stoa. And above all, to keep the international crowd at bay.

The city has had plenty of that over the summer. European Football Championship, Taylor Swift, AC/DC, Coldplay and then ten concerts by Adele in Riem: hoteliers and downtown restaurateurs have probably never done such a good deal in a year before the mayor even tapped the first barrel.

It will be exciting to see whether the flow of international tourists will continue after Munich’s mega summer. Gregor Lemke, the head of the downtown innkeepers, who was once again invited to the Wirtshaus-Wiesn, was not the only one who firmly believed this: “Munich has already presented itself to its visitors from abroad as being so easy-going, hospitable and cheerful this year that some will definitely be happy to come again,” he told AZ.

The initial queasy feeling goes away after a few days

Lemke and his fellow innkeepers would be more than happy to welcome the affluent Scots and Danes, who have to dig much deeper into their pockets at home for a Fetznrausch than in Munich.

Two years ago, the mobile phone provider Telefonica analyzed who was connecting to the internet via the Theresienwiese during the Oktoberfest. Telefonica formulated the result as follows: “Although it is world-famous, only around 16 percent of visitors come from abroad, and even among the German Oktoberfest-goers, the majority come directly from Munich (70 percent) or Bavaria (95 percent).”

According to reliable statistics, the Oktoberfest is completely different from its reputation: much more Bavarian and Munich-like than expected. God be with you, festival of Bavaria!

At least in recent years, the support has always been there – whether it came from above or in uniform: the unease that has accompanied every Oktoberfest opening for the reasons mentioned above has always reliably disappeared after a few days.

Even the weather is supposed to be wonderful this year – and that’s after the flood scenarios at the beginning of the week. It should be a wonderful Oktoberfest. The signs are good.

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