Munich, Germany’s famed Oktoberfest began in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. Since then, it has grown into the world’s largest and most famous beer festival.
This year’s Oktoberfest runs from September 16, 2023 to October 3, 2023. Here are five fun facts about the festival:
This year’s festival is the longest. Oktoberfest always starts on a Saturday in mid-September and runs to the first Sunday in October, a period of 16 days. But if that first Sunday falls on October 1 or October 2, the festival is extended until October 3, which is German Unity Day. Since the first Sunday in 2023 is October 1, this year’s Oktoberfest will run 18 days, the longest it can last.
Oktoberfest starts when the mayor taps the first keg. Since 1950, the official start of Oktoberfest has been marked by the mayor of Munich tapping the first keg at Schottenhamel Festhalle. The mayor taps the keg and fills the first mass (the famous one-liter German beer stein) and hands it to the premier of Bavaria to cheers of “O’zapft is!” (“it is tapped”). Gunshots are then fired to signal the other tents that they can begin serving beer. Even though the tents have opened hours before, no beer may be served until this official keg tapping.
There are only six official beers. Oktoberfest occurs at the Theresienwiese fairgrounds. And while there are many great Oktoberfest beers brewed around the world, only six Munich breweries are allowed to serve their beer at Theresienwiese, each in their own enormous beer garden tents. Hofbräu, Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spaten are the only official Oktoberfest breweries.
A lot of people will drink a lot of those six beers. Between 5 million and 7 million people attend Oktoberfest each year (the record is 7.1 million people, set in 1987). The amount of beer those millions of people will drink varies, of course, but in the last 20 years, the least amount of beer served during Oktoberfest was 5.6 million liters (almost 1.5 million gallons). The most was in 2014 when 7.7 million liters (over 2 million gallons) was consumed.
There’s food too — a lot of food. The actual amount of food various based on attendance each year, of course, but in 2016 (when 5.6 million people attended), Oktoberfesters ate:
- 109 oxen
- 58 calves
- 550,000 chickens
- 140,000+ pairs of pork sausages
- 44,000+ fish
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