Andrew Iro Okungbowa Munich city has announced the staging of the world-famous Oktoberfest Festival in the Bavarian capital this year after a two-year break due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is scheduled to hold between September 17 and October 3. The global acclaimed festival has witnessed 26 cancellations in its history spanning over two centuries of existence. Most cancellations were due to war while cholera outbreaks were responsible for it cancellation twice. In 2019, the last time the festival took place, the 6.3 million guests drank 7.3 million liters of beer, according to the breweries’ balance sheets. There had been numerous calls to allow what is the world’s largest beer festival to take place again this year, including from Bavaria’s premier, Markus Söder, the festival organisers and Munich local politicians. According to Munich Mayor, Dieter Reiter, no COVID-19 restrictions would be imposed on visitors during the festival as there was no longer any legal basis for doing so. The mayor also said that the city had a hard time making the decision because of the war in Ukraine, which could make such celebrations seem quite inappropriate and added that he hoped nothing would occur to make a cancellation at short notice necessary. Supporters of resuming the event have countered reservations about the appropriateness of the festival during the conflict in Ukraine by maintaining that the Oktoberfest is a contribution to international understanding by virtue of having visitors from so many countries.
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