Munich beer fest to return after pandemic pause

Germany’s annual Oktoberfest festival is finally on again for this fall, following a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the famous Bavarian beer festival announced.

“The Wiesn will take place,” Clemens Baumgaertner told reporters in Munich using the locals’ Bavarian colloquialism for the Oktoberfest that refers to the big lawn, or Wiese, where the boozy celebrations take place.

He said said the popular beer festival in the Bavarian capital will be held without any pandemic restrictions from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3 . “It will take place like we know it from 2019, and not in any other way,” Baumgaertner added.

The Oktoberfest, first held in 1810 in honor of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese, has been canceled dozens of times during its more than 200-year history due to wars and pandemics.

In the years before the coronavirus outbreak, around 6 million revelers visited the celebrations annually, many of them dressed in traditional Bavarian garb — the women in Dirndl dresses, the men in Lederhosen, or knee-length leather trousers.

Some 487 beer brewers, restaurants, wine vendors and others will be present and opening hours will be even longer than in the past, with the first beer tents opening at 9 a.m. and closing at 10:30 p.m.

A one-liter (two-pint) mug of beer will cost between 12.60 and 13.80 euros ($12.84-$14.07) this year, which is an increase of about 15% compared with 2019, according to the official Oktoberfest homepage.

Typical Bavarian dishes sold at the Oktoberfest will include specialties such as the “slaughter plate” with blood and liver sausage and pork belly.

Celebrants hoist glasses of beer at the opening of the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich in 2019. The festival returns this fall after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

primary election Thursday as he looks to secure a second four-year term in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2006. He trounced his Democratic opponent in 2018.

Martin jumped into the gubernatorial race last year after becoming an outspoken critic of Lee’s handling of the virus outbreak. The Republican governor declined to issue a statewide mask mandate and signed off on several laws that banned most vaccine mandates as the pandemic swept across the country.