The History of the Oktoberfest
The Royal Wedding
12th October 1810
Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married
to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12th October 1810.
The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held
on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy
royal event. The fields have been named Theresienwiese ("Theresa's
fields") in honor of the Crown Princess ever since, although
the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the "Wies'n".
Horse races in the presence of the Royal Family marked the close
of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of
Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in the subsequent
year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest.
The Oktoberfest continues in 1811
In 1811 an added feature to the horse races was the first Agricultural
Show, designed to boost Bavarian agriculture
The horse races, which were the oldest and - at one time - the
most popular event of the festival are no longer held today. But
the Agricultural Show is still held every three years during the
Oktoberfest on the southern part of the festival grounds.
In the first few decades the choice of amusements was sparse.
The first carousel and two swings were set up in 1818. Visitors
were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands which grew
rapidly in number. In 1896 the beer stands were replaced by the
first beer tents and halls set up by enterprising landlords with
the backing of the breweries.
The remainder of the festival site was taken up by a fun-fair.
The range of carousels etc. on offer was already increasing rapidly
in the 1870s as the fairground trade continued to grow and develop
in Germany.
171st Oktoberfest 2004
Today, the Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world, with
an international flavor characteristic of the 21th century: some
6 million visitors from all around the world converge on the
Oktoberfest each year.
And since the Oktoberfest is still held on the Theresienwiese,
the locals still refer to the event simply as the "Wies'n".
So "welcome to the Wies'n" means nothing other than "welcome
to the Oktoberfest"!
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