Preparation for Oktoberfest beer festival begins in Munich

 

MUNICH – Construction work for Munich’s world-famous Oktoberfest beer festival began on Monday some two months before it kicks off.

The Bavarian capital’s Theresienwiese park, which hosts the annual festival, is expected to become a building site with forklifts and trucks moving the tent components, which were delivered days ago and are now piled up on the festival grounds.

For safety reasons, it is forbidden to enter the site. Oktoberfest boss Clemens Baumgärtner planned to be at the festival site for the start of construction on Monday morning. In the evening, the hosts of the Oktoberfest, known locally as the Wiesn, plan to present this year’s official beer mug.

The festival lasts from September 16 to October 3, which is 18 days and thus two days longer than usual: Normally the Wiesn ends on the first Sunday in October, but because the public holiday on October 3 for National Unity Day falls on the Tuesday after, the weekend has been extended.

Baumgärtner expects an “XXL Wiesn” as a result because it will be “without Covid and thus a real Wiesn feeling.”

The beer and beverage prices at the Oktoberfest in Munich are usually a cause of much consternation every year: A traditional 1-litre mug, or Maß, of beer costs between €12.60 and €14.90 ($13.80-$16.32) this year, with an average of €14.18.

According to the city, guests will have to pay an average of 6.12% more for a litre of beer than last year.

The average price for a litre of water in the Wiesn beer tents is €10.04, compared to €9.67 last year.