No. 18, 26.IX.1996

OKTOBERFEST: VISITOR PROFILE The Munich Oktoberfest is famous for its beer. A conclusion from this fact might be that everybody goes there just to get, well, pissed. Of course this is true for some, but by far not for all visitors. Basically, "everybody" goes there: From little children to grandfathers, men and women. Most are from Munich and its surroundings, but of course there are a lot of "Preissn" [Prussians; in Bavaria general appellation for non-Bavarians] as well. But they do pretty different things. Of course, children can be found there mainly in the afternoon. Pony rides, merry-go-rounds, Punch and Judy shows, auto scooters and many other attractions are waiting for them. Once a week, there is a "Family day" with reduced fares for all the rides. Often, the mothers take care of the kids while daddy is drinking an afternoon beer in a tent. There, it is really gemuetlich [*the* word to describe Bavarian lifestyle; pretty untranslatable, especially in its Bavarian meaning; my dictionary says "comfortable, snug, cosy, pleasant"] at this time: Plenty of space, the air is still good, the guests friendly and the waitresses relaxed. This is also the pensioner's favorite time. During the week, the tents fill massively from around 5 PM. The first visitors get up on the benches and sing along, and different folks drop in: The evening visitors.

Again, they are of very different ages, but they have a different motivation: They do not want a cosy afternoon, they want the party! To get in mood, you drink a beer or two. After eight o'clock it is getting very hot in the tents: The music is playing the most popular hits (more about the music in a later Newsletter), more and more guests are getting up and singing or dancing along. The climax is reached around ten o'clock, when the last beers are ordered and several visitors were brought to the drying-out centre already. When the tents are being closed, most visitors have had enough and head home for their beds. Others drank a bit more moderate and still go somewhere else: Three small tents are open till one in the morning and attract mostly a younger and "hip" crowd. Here, may table neighbours in the big tents end up as dancing and kissing lovers. But usually, these tents fill up very fast, and so others head for one of the bars in the neighborhood.

The Oktoberfest is so much an institution in Munich that many firms invite there employees there. Some reserve a table and make it a kind of extra work outing, others just give away beer and food vouchers. As the economic situation is not the best at the moment, there aren't as may vouchers as still some years ago, but they are still an important factor. It is pretty cool to pay your beer with such a voucher, and it is even cooler if it isn't your voucher, but a friend's who gave it to you because he didn't want to go himself. So you are having a "free beer", which has always a bit of mystical touch here in Bavaria.

Another important visitor group are the tourists. I do not mean guests of Munich inhabitants, which go there with them and do pretty much what they do (see above). I mean "classical" tourists. They are easy to recognize, as they love to uniform themselves (legendary are Kiwis is neon yellow sweaters) and very often wear "typically Bavarian hats" all souvenir sellers offer and only the tourists buy. Even when Bavarians drink, they try (I don't say it always works) to keep up a certain degree of soberness... whereas the tourists seem to love to lose control (at last at this point it is necessary to clarify that I know very well that "the" tourist doesn't exist; what I am outlining, are more a kind of typical patterns of behaviour). Tourists and natives don't mix too much: The Hofbraeu tent has the reputation to be the best among the tourists, and to be the worse among natives; so mainly tourists go there, turning the typical Oktoberfest atmosphere into a spring break like party. But this is also a facette of Oktoberfest, and all those different aspects are what makes it so interesting.

"Munich Newsletter" by Chris Bussler

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