Munich Finally Has Some Good News For Oktoberfest Fans

Six million visitors. 2.1 million gallons of beer. Nearly $1.3 billion in revenue pumped into the local economy. That, per Fortune, is how much the German city of Munich earns when it hosts Oktoberfest, the two-week festival which first kicked off in 1810. Originally featuring a horse race, the event was created to celebrate the union of then regent prince of Bavaria (soon to become King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, according to the official Oktoberfest website. While the couple that first triggered the event may be long gone, the festival continued and spawned copycat Oktoberfests around the world for decades after ... until the coronavirus pandemic, that is.

Back in 2020, The Guardian reported the event was canceled, as government officials felt there was no safe way to hold it. (Oktoberfest is characterized by large crowds eating and drinking together in tents.) The same decision was made again in 2021, with the BBC citing similar health concerns. So there was much relief for both would-be revelers and local businesses when the city's mayor, Dieter Reiter, announced Munich is ready to bring the event back after its forced break. During a press conference held on April 29, Reiter said that, while they didn't reach the decision without plenty of thought, government officials finally chose to green-light the event, per Reuters.

In the end, pragmatism appears to have won out, as the mayor said: "I ordered administrators to begin preparations for an Oktoberfest 2022 without any restrictions or conditions,"  adding "I only hope that the (epidemiological) situation doesn't escalate in autumn such that federal and state governments flip-flop and cancel the Oktoberfest at the last moment."