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Munich mayor Christian Ude opened the 175th Oktoberfest beer festival with the traditional cry of "O' zapft is!" meaning "It's tapped!"

OKTOBERFEST The first "Oktoberfest" took place on October 12, 1810: For the commemoration of their marriage, Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (namesake of the Theresienwiese festival grounds) organized a great horse race (the marriage took place on October 12; the horse race on October 17 — therefore, there are different dates named as being the first Oktoberfest). The Oktoberfest is a three-week festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and early October. It is one of the most famous events in the city and the world's largest fair, with...

MUNICH, Germany - Munich's mayor joyously hammered a tap into Oktoberfest's first barrel of beer, opening the annual drinking spree Saturday with the traditional cry of "It's tapped!" Thousands of visitors crowded into the sprawling Theresienwiese festival grounds as Mayor Christian Ude launched the 174th Oktoberfest and passed the first beer to Bavarian Governor Edmund Stoiber. A 12-gun salute signaled that it was time to start serving the public. The festival's tents offer seating for some 100,000 people. The Oktoberfest runs through Oct. 7. Last year, the festival attracted more than 6 million visitors, who downed about 12.9 million pints...

   Beer ban ... Paris   Paris Hilton is left beer-eft September 20, 2007           HEIRESS PARIS HILTON has been banned from Munich’s famed Oktoberfest for “cheapening” last year’s event.  Locals were outraged when the socialite, 26, arrived at the beer festival in plaits and traditional Bavarian dress to advertise a brand of canned wine. They accused organisers of selling out and making the event, which kicks off again this weekend, look shabby.Munich tourism chief Gabriele Weishaeupl announced yesterday that celebrity promotions “are completely prohibited by the new festival rules”.

IT'S FRIDAY IN PARADISE! Today's OFST is low budget. I'm nearing the conclusion of vacation time and much as one loves eating, drinking, sleeping, drinking, sleeping, eating, drinking, sleeping, and enjoying a carefree existence, I miss home and hearth. In other words, I'm down to my last dime and there's work piling up. I can't access much on my hotel computer so I will rely on the men, women, chinese acrobats, freaks, aliens, and undead horror movie villains to make this Friday the 13th the silliest thread. Have a great Friday the 13th. I miss all you FReaks. Until Sunday,...

MUNICH, GERMANY - Tourists at Munich's Oktoberfest got more than the price of admission when a fairground Ferris wheel was used as the impromptu location for a pornographic film, police said Thursday. Three Italian tourists were enjoying the view across the rooftops of Munich from the vantage point in a Ferris wheel gondola when a female passenger disrobed and engaged in sexual activities while a cameraman and a production assistant looked on. The tourists alerted authorities, who detained the trio. They were identified as a 21-year-old registered nurse, a 25-year-old university student and a 30-year-old political sciences teacher. They were...

Munich makes merry as Oktoberfest kicks off 19 September 2005MUNICH, GERMANY - Munich's Oktoberfest, billed as the biggest beer party in the world, got underway to cheers and flying froth Saturday. More than 6 million visitors from around the world are expected for the festivities, forking out up to EUR 7.10 for a one-litre mug of beer in one of 14 huge tents. Festival organizers promise a 16-day 'gaudi' - southern German for plenty of fun - until October 3, during which about 6 million litres of beer will be consumed.

German designers are promoting a skirt for male drinkers to wear at the Munich Beer Festival. They say their Oktoberfest Frock is a lot more comfortable than traditional lederhosen. Doreen Anders and Andreas Landinger, from Munich, say they were influenced by the Scottish kilt in creating the drinking-dress which comes in 'short' or 'calf' length. There are no tartan designs but the kilt comes in colours in-keeping with the blue-and-white Bavarian flag and other symbols of the Oktoberfest beer festival. A spokesman for the designers say the skirt "combines softness with comfort" and does not inhibit the wearer like lederhosen,...

I volunteered at the Capitol City brewpub's Oktoberfest Saturday, in Alexandria, Virginia, one of the biggest of its kind in the mid-atlantic, and there were Kerry supporters everywhere. The Dems had a stand there and were handing out buttons and stickers by the hundreds. It seems like half the crowd had Kerry stickers on....due to sauvy agressive campaigning. No Republican stand, not a single Bush sticker in sight--as no one was handing them out (and like the Kerry supporters in the crowd) no one had actually planned to bring campaign stuff... So since the campaign wasn't there, us Republicans missed...

Oktoberfest takes fall MUNICH. The Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, experienced a drop in beer sales and visitors this year. More than 55 million liter-sized beer servings were consumed, down nearly 11 percent from last year's 61 million liters of beer. There were also fewer visitors: 5.9 million instead of last year's 6.3 million. That was a drop of nearly 7 percent for this year's event, which ran from Sept. 18-Oct. 3. But the number of beer steins that people tried to steal was up: About 210,000 were confiscated by the beer tents' security personnel, up from 195,000 last...

Police in Munich say a gang dubbed the 'boob bandits' has been robbing people at this year's Oktoberfest.

Giant fraud uncovered at Germany's Oktoberfest beer party Wed Sep 22, 1:14 PM ET MUNICH, Germany (AFP) - German police said they seized some 30,000 fake tokens used for buying beer at the Oktoberfest, which could have cost the world's biggest beer festival nearly half a million dollars. A 33-year-old man from the former Yugoslavia was arrested on suspicion of making the counterfeit tokens, which are used for buying a Mass, or liter, of beer at three of the giant tents at the fairgrounds in the southern city of Munich. His 50-year-old alleged accomplice was released after questioning. Police said...

Sunday, September 19, 2004 Oktoberfest offers ultimate R&R for troops who’ve served in Iraq By Charlie Coon, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Sunday, September 19, 2004 Charlie Coon / S&S The Lowenbrau float rolls by during Saturday's parade to open the 2004 Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. Charlie Coon / S&S Front row from left, Pfc. Jason Cain of Roanoke, Va., Sgt. Sylvia Hughes of Clarksville, Tenn., and Pfc. Kyra Sisco of Fremont, Calif.; back row from left, Pfc. Chase Wilson of Missouri City, Texas, Pfc. Cassandra Sisco, who is Kyra's sister, and Spc. Eric Lauberstein of San Diego, on Saturday at...

MUNICH, Germany - With the traditional cry of "O'zapft is!" — "It's tapped!" — Munich's mayor cracked a barrel of Bavarian beer at noon Saturday, opening the southern city's 171st Oktoberfest festival for a crowd of some 500,000. Dressed in Bavarian knee-length leather pants, or lederhosen, Christian Ude wished the crowd a "peaceful Oktoberfest" before a thundering 12-gun salute signaled the 16-day festival's opening. Bavarian Gov. Edmund Stoiber was given the first mug and took an obligatory swig before switching to an alcohol-free version. The world's biggest beer-drinking festival is always a huge tourist draw, and some 6 million visitors...

Achtung FReepers! Last chance, still few seats left! Here is your chance to have fun and be a German, Austrian, Arnoldian for a day - enjoy famous Octoberfest right here in New Jersey. First class German food and beer with the DJ playing best mix of German and Slavic polkas and waltzes by best European bands. There will be special FReper tables or you can book your exclusive. The price is paltry $25 per person, no need for donations, bribes or taxes. Unbelievable fun fueled by original, direct from Schwartzwald - Spaten Oktoberfest Bier on tap, all you can drink!...

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Beer fans drank the equivalent of six Olympic-sized swimming pools full of beer during the two-week Oktoberfest in Germany, close to the annual event's record, organisers say. Organisers of the world's biggest beer festival, which ended on Sunday, reported a jump in attendance as well as beer consumption after a two-year decline following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. About 6.3 million people crowded into the beer tents during the fortnight, some 400,000 more than in the last two years, and drank 6.1 million litres of Bavaria's top export beverage -- up seven...

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Few events have the power to reinforce a cliche in the way that Munich's Oktoberfest does for Germany's love of beer, sausages and loud brass bands. Reuters Photo Related Links • Oktoberfest - official site   For the Alpine state of Bavaria, the two-week extravaganza of food, drink and folklore is an annual excuse to dress up in lederhosen and join in a noisy celebration of brewing, singing and rough good cheer. The festival opened on Sept. 20 with the mayor of Munich cracking open the first cask of beer with the customary shout "O'zapft is!"...

Women are to be granted a sanctuary at Munich's Oktoberfest to stop the rising number of rapes and sex attacks at the beer-swilling folk festival. Seven million visitors are expected to attend the 170-year-old event over the next two weeks. It has come to represent the archetypal image of Germany, with women in dirndl frocks and men in knee-length lederhosen. But the folksy reputation has been tarnished by the rising number of rapes. At last year's festival, six rapes and 11 other sex attacks were reported. Police estimate that the real rape figure is as high as 120. Observers believe...

  Oktoberfest The days are getting a bit longer and an occasional chill will brush your cheek, and the world's largest Ethnic party will officially bring on autumn. Depending upon the yearly calendar, this food and brewfest takes place between late September and mid October. This year Germany will celebrate this wonderful event, September 20 - October 5, 2003. In various places throughout the world parties will crop up and the sound of German folk music, and the scent of wonderful food will fill the air once again. It's PARTY TIME! However, the mother of all Oktoberfest parties will once...

Globalization Hits Germany's Oktoberfest Sun Sep 21, 7:56 AM ET By TONY CZUCZKA, Associated Press Writer MUNICH, Germany - The polka bands struck up and beer started flowing at this year's Oktoberfest this weekend, even as the sale of a venerable Bavarian brewer to foreign owners injected tough global realities into the party. AP Photo Billed as the biggest annual festival anywhere, the two-week beer bash is expected to draw more than 6 million revelers after rain last year and the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 kept crowds smaller than usual. A magnet for tourists and a deeply Bavarian tradition...

Local Beer Only at Oktoberfest, Unless It's Belgian, of Course By MARK LANDLER MUNICH (MUNCHEN), Sept. 19 — The Oktoberfest starts here this weekend, and even before noon today, the vaulted main hall of the Hofbräuhaus was teeming with tourists in boisterous training. But in Bavaria's breweries, bitterness is spoiling the season. Some of Germany's leading beers have been sold into foreign hands, and to defenders of national pride, something of Germany's birthright has been sold with them. Earlier this week, one of Germany's oldest breweries, Gabriel Sedlmayr, announced it would sell its famous beers, which include Löwenbräu, to Interbrew,...

Not coming from a media outlet, but rather from a friend who just got back from spending several weeks in Europe. She was stunned at the level of open animosity she encountered against the USA everywhere she went except the UK. She said she was constantly hearing how hated we are, how we deserved 9/11, how we finally knew what it was like to be hit on our own soil, how the world is sick of us and our "arrogance," blah blah blah. I knew such folks existed in Europe, but I was honestly surprised to hear the level of...