Oktoberfest 2010

If my memory serves me correctly, we had our Oktoberfest plans in place before we even had a housing assignment in Nussloch (see this post). We picked a great year to jump on the beer stein ship - it was the 200th anniversary! After countless email chains, thousands of miles traveled, Lederhosen and Dirndles purchased and strategy sessions, we finally found ourselves in the middle of the Hacker-Festzelt tent last Saturday. 

Oktoberfest takes place in Munich on the Theresienwiese and is often mistaken as a festival to celebrate the harvest. It was actually first a horse race to honor King Ludwig I of Bavaria before he wed Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. It has been an annual tradition since, with some modifications to the celebration, and 24 years of cancellations due to plagues, economic issues and of course, wars. In the mid 1890's Albert Einstein helped install light bulbs in his uncle's tent at the event and beer was first served in the famous stein's in 1892.

Being the largest annual festival in the world with countless beer tents, going in with a plan is important. It is best to pick one, maybe two tents, and plan on staying put all day. Considerations that go into selecting a tent are the type of beer being poured, the food on the menu and the band. Unless you have a reserved box, it is imperative to arrive very early the day of to secure a seat at a table. Tents only hold about 100,000 people and each year the fair attracts around five million. Beer is not served to standing patrons, and being Germany, there is no room to bend the rules. 

We were fortunate to have a French group make room for us at their table when we arrived (they opened the tents early the day we went because it was raining out and even at 7:30 the tents were almost at capacity). Traditionally beer is not served until 10am, but due to the early start, beer started flowing at 9:00. At around 7-8% alcohol content, Oktoberfest beer is 2% stronger than regular beer (wow, that explains a lot!!) and one stein is the equivalent of three beers. 

Captures from Oktoberfest 

With all the visitors, there is money to be made by being a tent owner or even a server. The waiter positions are unique, in that there is no base pay, and all transactions are conducted in cash. The waiters buy the steins for €8.10 each from the bar, and sell them to their guests for €8.70.  Then there's tips. Although service is normally included in Germany and tips are rarely more than 5%, during Oktoberfest almost everyone rounds off to €10. After a few liters of 8% beer, people become pretty generous and jovial.

A waiter needs to be fit enough to carry literally thousands of steins, sometimes as many as 12 at once, over the course of a 12 hour shift. The reward: After three weeks of work, Oktoberfest waiters routinely make over €30k, or roughly $40k. These coveted positions are passed down through generations and are rarely up for grabs.

Needless to say, Oktoberfest was a huge success. Justin's sister Juli and her new fiance, Glenn, flew in from L.A. to attend, as well as four girls from Chicago, Rachel, Caitlin, Jamie and Kristin. It was so nice having familiar faces in Germany and sharing our Oktoberfest experience with friends and family.

To see all my pictures from the event, click here.