Oktoberfest souvenir 2010
The countdown has started for the worlds biggest fun fair,  on September 18th 2010 the Muenchener Oktoberfest will open it's gates for the 200th time.
In October  1810 Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen organized a great horse race to  commemorate their marriage which took place a week earlier. The huge festival area, the Theresienwiesn is named after Princess Therese.
Horse race stopped in the 1960's but for this years anniversary there will be  a horse race in historical costumes on the opening day. The opening of the festivities start with a twelve gun salute and the tapping of the first keg of Oktoberfest beer at 12:00 by the Mayor of Munich. He or she  cries in true Bavarian dialect (Mundart) "O'zapft is!" ("It's tapped!" ) The first beer is then presented  to the Minister-President (Premier) of the State of Bavaria.
The "Wies'n" as the festival site is locally known as, can be reached by public transport. It has its own U-Banh (subway) station. Visitors take the U4 and U5 lines on the Munich U-Bahn system.  The nearest Munich S-Bahn station is Hackerbruecke or Muenchen Hauptbahnhof (Munich central station).
There is much more to the Oktoberfest then just beer drinking. It's a huge fun fair with numerous activities, great food, merry-go-rounds and traditional Bavarian floats. Please read on for this years program. The Oktoberfest will close it's gates on the 4th of October.
The festive programme of events for the Oktoberfest
Grand entry of the Oktoberfest landlords and breweries
Date: Saturday, 18th September 2010, 10.45 am and lasts about 45 minutes.
Route:
Sonnenstrasse-Schwanthalerstrasse to the Oktoberfest grounds.
This is the official prelude to the opening of the Oktoberfest and involves about 1,000 participants, including the landlords' families in decorated carriages, the magnificent horse-drawn drays of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats and all the beer tent bands.
Oktoberfest Costume and Riflemen's Parade
Date: Sunday, 19th September 2010, 10 am and lasts 2 - 2 1/2 hours, about 7000 performers, 7 km distance.
Route of the parade:
Max II. Denkmal, Maximilianstrasse, Residenzstrasse, Odeonsplatz, Kardinal-Faulhaber-Strasse, Pacellistrasse, Maximiliansplatz, Karlsplatz-Stachus, Sonnenstrasse, Schwanthalerstrasse, Paul-Heyse-Strasse, Georg-Hirth-Platz, Kaiser-Ludwig-Platz, Festwiese
World-famous procession on the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest. The Costume und Riflemen's Procession gives an impressive insight into the fascinating diversity of customs rooted in the heart of Bavaria, in Franconia, Swabia, the states of Germany and in neighboring European countries. A varied succession of regional costume groups, "troops" in historical uniforms, marching bands, riflemen, thoroughbred horses, oxen, cows, goats, the decorated drays of the Munich breweries, floats displaying typical local traditions and historic carriages all pass by in a 7-kilometer-long procession through the streets of the city center. Ribboned trees, harvest garlands, craftsmen's tools from bygone days, harvest produce, dancers decorated with flowers, stars and crowns, trumpeters on horseback, flag-throwers and a host of other performers transform this traditional Munich procession into a brilliant highlight on the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest. {short description of image}
Open-Air Oktoberfest Music
Date: Sunday, 26th September 2010, 11 am (If the weather is bad, the concert will be postponed until Sunday, 3rd October 2010.)
Venue: on the steps of the Bavaria statue
A bigband open-air concert of all Oktoberfest bands with some 400 musicians takes place on the second Sunday of the festival.
