When was the first Oktoberfest?

Oktoberfest: Just the Facts Oktoberfest is an annual festival held in Munich, Germany. It lasts for two weeks and ends on the first Sunday in October. The first festival began on October 12, 1810, to celebrate a royal wedding. By the late 20th century, breweries began to construct temporary beer halls for Oktoberfest. These beer halls would each fit some 6,000 people. Traditionally, the mayor of Munich taps the first beer keg to open the festival, beginning the first of about two million gallons of beer to be consumed. Oktoberfest draws more than six million people per year, many of them tourists. Plus, several U.S. cities, particularly those where many German Americans live, hold their own Oktoberfests modeled on the original in Munich. Wherever you celebrate, you can most likely count on good beer, food, games, and music and dancing.