Mayor kicks off Oktoberfest
2004-09-18 13:38
Munich - Beer-cellars, ale-houses, pubs, taverns and sundry other watering-holes on Saturday kicked off the 171st Oktoberfest in Munich, southern Germany, where millions of visitors are expected to visit the annual booze-fest.
The festivities began on the stroke of midday as, to the cheers of several thousand watchers, mayor Christian Ude swung a hammer to crack open the first beer barrel with the traditional cry of "O'zapft is'!" -- the keg is tapped!
Ude, a Social Democrat, passed the first Mass (the litre-sized beer glass) to Bavaria's conservative minister-president Edmund Stoiber.
A million visitors are expected this weekend alone, especially given the Indian summer weather.
Organisers are hoping some six million people will visit the Wiesn, the huge 31-hectare fairground where the amber liquid will be served in a complex of massive tents.
Some six million litres of beer are expected to be downed, accompanying 400 000 sausages to the pulsing oom-pah-pah of Bavarian musicians outfitted in traditional lederhosen trousers and dirndl smocks.
Fest-goers can rest assured that very little has changed this year. Pressed by reporters to say whether there would be any new attractions, Ude replied: "Nothing spectacular. ... The Wiesn has to remain exactly as everybody expects it to be."
The first Oktoberfest was first held in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of the prince of Bavaria, the future King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen for whom the parkgrounds are named. It has been cancelled only 24 times, for reasons of war or cholera.