This Saturday marks the official kick-off of the 2010 Oktoberfest. The festival lasts 16-days and is held each year in Munich, Germany. Here are some interesting Oktoberfest facts:

• The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
• The festival takes place in the Theresienwiese area of Munich, where it has been held for the past 200 years.
• The festival has been cancelled 24 times. The majority of these cancellations have been due to war, i.e. The Napoleonic War in 1811, the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, World War 1 from 1914 to 1918, and World War II from 1939 to 1945.
• Beginning in 1950, the traditional opening of Oktoberfest has involved the following: a twelve gun salute, a Noon tapping of the opening keg by the Mayor of Munich who then proclaims “O’zapft is!” (German for “It’s tapped!”), and the drinking of the first beer by the President of Bavaria.
• When most foreigners think of Oktoberfest, they picture men in Lederhosen and women in Dirndls.

Dirndl

• There are 14 main tents at the festival which serve food and beer to the masses, as well as providing music and entertainment. The Ochsenbraterei tent specializes in oxen dishes, Feisinger’s Kas- und Weinstub’n is all about the cheese, Able’s Kalbs-Kuchl is all about the veal, and The Wildstuben is known for venison. And of course, they all serve a plethora of beer!
• In 2007, 6.9 million liters of beer were consumed by 6.2 million people. They also produced over 1,000 tons of garbage.
• If you plan to attend this year’s festival, there’s an Oktoberfest App available from iTunes.
• The top rated German Oktoberfest-Mårzen is made by Paulaner. It scored a B+ on Beer Advocate.

Perhaps I should run out and pick up some Oktoberfest-Mårzen and watch Beerfest, since I won’t be attending this year’s festival.

And now for the Oktoberfest Chicken Dance…