6.5 million people visited the Munich beer festival Oktoberfest

Berlin/Munich, October 5 - The Munich Oktoberfest beer festival was visited by 6.5 million people this year, which is less than last year. Christian Scharpf announced this on behalf of the organizers at a press conference today. According to him, the year-on-year decrease in guests is related to the closure of the area on Wednesday due to a bomb threat. Less beer was also drunk than last year, about 6.5 million liters. The largest folk festival in the world ends today after 16 days.

Last year, 6.7 million visitors arrived at Munich's Theresienwiese, who drank about seven million mugs of beer. A mug is equivalent to one liter. This year, the balance is therefore about 200,000 visitors and half a million liters of golden liquid lower. A pint of beer cost 14.50 to 15.80 euros this year.

According to Scharpf, the drop in guests is related to the closure of the area for seven and a half hours, which was required on Wednesday by a bomb threat. The security measure was related to the case of settling family disputes. In the north of Munich, a 57-year-old German man set fire to his parents' house on Wednesday night, the fire was accompanied by explosions and shooting. The man's 81-year-old mother and 21-year-old daughter were injured and his 90-year-old father lost his life. The perpetrator subsequently committed suicide, but left a letter that contained a bomb threat regarding Oktoberfest.

Since the man had planted explosive devices in his parents' house, the police considered the threat credible. The Oktoberfest grounds remained closed since Wednesday morning and only reopened after a thorough search of the multi-hectare area at 5:30 p.m. However, 150,000 guests arrived at the grounds that same day. Representatives of the innkeepers' union subsequently requested that the Oktoberfest be extended due to the unplanned closure. However, the organizers soon described this as unrealistic given that many employees of the beer tents, as well as operators of fairground attractions and security service employees, already had other commitments on Monday.

The organizers had to close the beer festival grounds twice due to overcrowding. The organizers faced criticism, especially because of the first incident. Unclear instructions caused fear in some people and, according to many, it was only by a miracle that no one was hurt in the crush. Scharpf apologized today for the incident on behalf of the organizers. "We reacted, but not in the way we would have liked," he said.

According to Scharpf, this year's Oktoberfest could be described as a roller coaster, but he said that innkeepers and fairground operators are ultimately satisfied. About a fifth of the visitors to the festival this year were from abroad, mainly from the USA, Italy, Britain, Austria, Poland, Spain, France, India and Sweden. At the exits, visitors managed to seize 116,000 Tuplaks, which they wanted to take away as souvenirs. Last year, this way, 98,000 Tuplaks were prevented from being stolen.

This year, 4,500 items were recorded in the lost and found items, most often people lost parts of clothing, wallets, mobile phones, documents or keys. Perhaps the most curious find was a lost accordion. Including today, garbage collectors have removed 764 tons of waste from the area.

This year, rescuers treated 6,834 patients, roughly 40 percent of them due to excessive alcohol consumption. This year's measured record is 3.8 per mille of alcohol. According to medical professionals, it is possible that some of the patients inhaled more. "Some candidates were not motorically able to breathe into the measuring device," they said.

The 190th year of Oktoberfest will go down in history not only because of extraordinary events, but also because the temperature record was broken on the very first day. On Saturday, September 20, when Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter tapped the first keg of beer, the temperature reached 31 degrees Celsius. It was the hottest day of the Oktoberfest in history.

The festival began in October 1810, when, after their wedding, Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and his wife Theresa of Saxony-Hildburghausen held a horse race for the people of the kingdom in a meadow outside Munich. The event was a success and became a regular event known as the Octoberfest. It retained its name even after the organizers moved it to September due to warmer weather.

Czech press agency

WT.24