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(Oktoberfest 2021 cancellled)
Coronavirus cases might be falling in the US but it’s a different story in Germany where they can’t seem to shake it, ending the world’s most popular beer fest for a second year.
Here are the sad details…
“It wasn’t an easy decision, but I have to make it now and I have done so,” Munich’s Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter said, citing health and safety as the priorities. “That’s why there will be no Wiesn in Munich this year either.”
Mayor Reiter, described the cancellation as a “bitter pill” for the city but said that officials had no other choice. “You can’t host a folk festival in a time like this,” he added. “The risk is simply too huge that people here could become infected with the coronavirus.”
(Maybe next year}
The 187th Oktoberfest, which was scheduled to run from September 18 to October 3, is an enormous economic boon for Munich’s brewery and hospitality industry. In 2019 the 16-day celebration generated more than 1.2 billion euros (US $1.3 billion) for the city as visitors drank more than 1.9 million gallons of beer.
This isn’t the first time the 210-year-old festival has been canceled and it’s not the first time it was cancelled due to a pandemic…
In 1854 the event, which the locals call Wiesn, (German for meadow and shorthand for Theresa’s Meadow where the first Oktoberfest gathering took place) was cancelled due to a cholera outbreak that killed more than 3000 locals. But it had been decades since Oktoberfest was canceled….The last time was during World War II, but then came the coronavirus.
The May 3rd announcement didn’t come as a surprise to Bavarian Minister President Dr. Markus Söder. “The situation is too uncertain. We have an economic obligation here. A later cancellation of the Oktoberfest would be an economic loss,” he said at the press conference.
Other reasons included fear of damaging the Oktoberfest brand and potentially “chaotic conditions” from enforcing the required mask and distancing requirements.
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For more on ‘what could have been’ check out:
OKTOBERFEST – THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
OKTOBERFEST ENDS WITH BEER CONSUMPTION DOWN AND DRUNKEN SCOOTER ARRESTS UP
