Germany: Preliminary Oktoberfest Report – Peaceful, Happy & Rainy “Wiesn 2022”
Among the Oktoberfest “classics” was again the Olympia Looping, operated by the showmen family Barth, who decorated it with a wooden barrel designed by Outdoor Factory this year.
Yesterday, the 187th Oktoberfest on Munich’s “Theresienwiese” festival site came to an end. The preliminary report for one of the largest traditional folk festivals in the world is quite positive, with around 5.7 million guests from the beginning of the festival (September 17) until yesterday – in 2019, some 6.3 million people came to the also “Wiesn”-called folk and fun fair event in the Bavarian capital. While the visitors and the responsible authorities were pleased with the overall peaceful, happy and safe event days, the showmen in particular had to struggle with the almost continuously rainy weather, which lured people into the (gastronomic) indoor venues and away from the rides, attractions and street food offerings. As soon as the weather temporarily showed some improvement, business picked up significantly and families with younger children as well as teenagers enjoyed the numerous attractions with great fun. With regard to gastronomic catering and the souvenir trade, the festival organizers noted an increased demand for a higher quality abd thus higher priced offerings this year. The audience at the “Wiesn” was international as usual: In addition to guests from all over Germany and other European countries, this year’s Oktoberfest had also welcomed numerous visitors from the USA and Argentina, for example.
Clemens Baumgärtner, Head of the Department of Labor and Economic Affairs of the City of Munich and responsible for the Oktoberfest, expressed his satisfaction: “Our Wiesn is back. Guests in the seven-digit range celebrated their feast and showed how much they care about it. Despite all the bad news of our times, people want their freedom and fun. This year’s Wiesn was a powerful demonstration of this fact.” Overall, the preliminary Oktoberfest final report testifies to a successful festive event, which took place for the first time since 2019. The date for Germany’s largest folk festival next year is September 16 to October 3, 2023. (eap)
