Warm, Dry Munich Weather Brews a Wet Oktoberfest

By the time Munich’s traditional Oktoberfest ends Sunday evening, it seems clear that it will be one of the driest--as well as the wettest--on record.

The weather has been perfect: dry, warm days after a rainy summer. And the warm weather is prompting Oktoberfest beer drinkers toward what is expected to be an all-time consumption record: more than 5 million liters of what many regard as the world’s best beers.

On the opening weekend of the 16-day festival, a few jet-setters sneaked champagne into their beer mugs, but the rest of the revelers drank 900,000 liter-sized steins of beer.

Oktoberfest, the biggest party in a city renowned for enjoying itself, is a must for Bavarians from Franz Josef Strauss, the state premier, who opened the festivities, to the assembly-line workers at BMW’s sprawling automotive plant outside the city. More than 7 million people are expected in all at the annual celebration, with Americans making up the largest foreign contingent.

‘Let Your Hair Down’

“The Oktoberfest,” a Munich executive told a visitor, “is the place where everyone meets everyone, high or low. You let your hair down and rub shoulders in the beer tents with people you’d never meet the rest of the year.”

The site of the Oktoberfest is Theresienwiese--Therese’s Meadow. The first festival was held here 175 years ago. Now the meadow is paved with asphalt, and during the Oktoberfest it looks like the midway at a big American state fair. There are 10 big beer tents, with adjacent beer gardens, surrounded by food stands and carnival rides and other concessions.

The tents are run by the major Bavarian brewers, among them Lowenbrau, Hofbrau, Spatenbrau, Hackerbrau, Augustinerbrau and Paulaner. The biggest is the Hofbrau tent, which can seat 10,000 beer drinkers at a time. Each tent has a bandstand, with Bavarian brass providing music from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Drinkers are seated at long wooden tables and are served by cheerful barmaids in dirndl skirts who somehow manage to carry five of the large steins in each hand. Besides beer, the waitresses serve roast beef, grilled fish and barbecued half-chickens known as haendl, the most popular dish.

Thirst-Making Tidbits

Oktoberfesters will devour about 600,000 plates of chicken this year. Also, the crafty brewers provide tidbits--salted bread, pretzels and radishes--that increase thirst.

For the duration of Oktoberfest, the revelers are fully expected to show the effects of drinking. “We use the expression rauschig, or tipsy, to describe what happens,” one participant said. “That is a much softer word than drunk.”

A Red Cross team is on hand to look after those who overdo it. Late in the evening, a dozen or more people can be found stretched out on cots. There is also a staff of bouncers at every beer tent to see that the merrymaking doesn’t get out of hand.

This year, for the first time, a wine tent has been added, but Bavarians look on wine drinking as somewhat effete. This region, after all, is noted for beer, not wine.

Some people think that the Oktoberfest grew out of a traditional harvest ritual, but in fact, its historical roots are relatively shallow by European standards.

Began as a Wedding Party

It began in 1810 as a wedding party. In 1810, Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, who would become King Ludwig I, married Princess Therese of Saxon-Hildburghausen, and the occasion was celebrated by all Munich. The party in the meadow named for Ludwig’s bride became an annual rite.

Despite the popularity of the celebration, the people of Munich object to hearing their city described as nothing more than the site of the Oktoberfest. They like to point out that Munich is the cultural capital of West Germany, with many museums, theaters and concert halls.

It so outshines Bonn, the national capital, that political commentators call it the “secret capital of Germany.” It has a population of 1.3 million, ranking third in Germany in this respect, behind West Berlin (1.9 million) and Hamburg (1.7 million).

Munich was founded in the 12th Century and for centuries was ruled by the Wittelsbach family, the dukes of Bavaria. The Wittelsbachs were determined to make Munich a stunning capital, and they put up a great number of public buildings, most of them rococo and baroque in style. Munich was bombed severely in World War II, but most of the historical center has been reconstructed.

In the opinion of many experienced travelers, Munich has become one of the more inviting cities in Europe, Oktoberfest or not.

“If there’s any problem,” a Munich publisher said not long ago, “it’s that life here is so pleasant that we can get a little too complacent with ourselves.”