Could an all-outdoor Oktoberfest be planned for 2020?
It’s been a couple of months since the sad, sad news of Oktoberfest 2020 being cancelled over coronavirus concerns hit us smack in our pretzel-eating faces.
Since then, the question of how to spend this year’s September and October has seen many opinions. There’s even the possibility of extending Oktoberfest 2021 by a week to make up for lost income. (And we’d be okay with that, for the record.)
However, latest developments are proposing something we haven’t seen since, well, the 1800s: an all-outdoor Oktoberfest. (Source: Focus.de, article in German)
Hubert Aiwanger, the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, has proposed an Oktoberfest without tents. Instead of the many famous Oktoberfest beer tents, we’d instead party our days away in what’s surely to be the world’s largest beer garden.
The idea for this open-air Oktoberfest would do away with the confining beer tents altogether and allow for multiple beer gardens (which currently have no size limits).
The state of Bavaria has already begun to open for business and beer gardens are among those. Aiwanger says, “Experience has shown that they run perfectly” and the risk of contracting the virus is proven to be lower in open-air environments.
Just like in traditional beer gardens, this tent-less Oktoberfest would still see barriers marking restricted access to control crowds. They would also use umbrellas to protect from rain and offer background music for a possibly more peaceful experience.
But how do the vendors and breweries feel about it? Well, they’re up for it, but with conditions. They appreciate authorities seeking Oktoberfest alternatives but still think Aiwanger’s proposal needs some fine-tuning.
Some other suggestions are to spread Oktoberfest out all over the city and to move it up earlier in the year to take advantage of nicer weather. (No one wants to risk watering down their beer with early snow.)
These are still only suggestions so we’ll have to wait and see how things play out. Whatever they come up with is sure to be a prost-tastic time!
