"The Oktoberfest will take place"
"The Oktoberfest will take place": COO Baumgartner presents the novelties 2022.
Munich's Chief of Oktoberfest, Clemens Baumgärtner, invited the press to take a look at the novelties of the upcoming Oktoberfest.
He also used the opportunity to state that a Chief of Oktoberfest's job is to organize the Oktoberfest, not to cancel it: "The Oktoberfest will take place."
Despite the difficult circumstances with the pandemic and the war, the city decided to organize the Oktoberfest the way we know it from 2019.
He admitted that the city had investigated options to introduce additional Covid-19 checks but no variant turned out to be feasible in terms of personnel, budget or logistics. The cost would have been in the tens of millions.
Even the current energy crisis can't be a reason to cancel the Oktoberfest according to Baumgärtner. "You won't have to fear sitting in the dark at Christmas just because of the Oktoberfest taking place." In fact, the Oktoberfest is only responsible for 0.6 per mil of the city's consumption of electricity and for 0.1 per mil of its gas consumption.
New Oktoberfest Brand
The city presented a new brand for Oktoberfest, following the successful registration of the name Oktoberfest as a trademark. The new O will replace the laughing beer mugs that were introduced in the 1990s
Gastronomic Novelties
As already known, the Bräurosl tent will be entirely new and Oide Wiesn's Schönheitskönigin will be replaced with Lorenz Stiftl's Schützenlisl. As Stiftl's old small tent hereby got vacant, Münchner Stubn will be its replacement on the lot in front of Löwenbräu tent. You can view the first pictures in our Oktoberfest construction gallery from today.
Apart from that, there will be a new "Wiesn Insel Cocktailbar", which will be made of Caribbean-themed containers. Apparently, that is supposed to sound tempting.
New Rides
As you already know, the only "new" ride, Circus Circus, is a carousel that Oktoberfest visitors have known under the name "Magic" for decades. In addition, there will be a new VR attraction called "OktobVRfest-Virtual Reality." As it only allows eight people to play against each other in two teams, we're already excited to see its entrance fee.
In total, 918 businesses applied for an Oktoberfest lot, out of whom 487 were successful. This number is significantly lower in comparison to 551 licenses in 2019. According to Baumgärtner, reconfigurations of the fairground lead to the decrease.
A small novelty will greet Oktoberfest visitors at the main entrance: the old Oktoberfest post office will be replaced by a tourist information centre.