FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2023-162 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (October 12, 2023) – Today’s edition of Fun with Maps celebrates the birth of thee Oktoberfest.

Roll Out the Barrels…

It all started as a wedding celebration.

King Ludwig I of Bayern (Bavaria) married Therese of Saxe-Hildberghause on October 10, 1810.  The citizens of Munchen (Munich) were invited to the festivities held just outside the city gates on a large piece of land called Theresienwiese.

Since then the good times rolled on the same grounds annually, interrupted only by various wars, and Covid-19.

Parades of restaurant and bar owners, riflemen, and other notables plus horse races are associated with the even since the 1850s.

Over time the celebration of marriage transformed into a public festival.  Since 1950, the mayor of Munich taps the first beer keg, and the first liter of beer goes to the President of Bavaria.  Tapping beer kegs is apparently a job requirement of a mayor there.

About 2 million gallons of beer is consumed at the recent Octoberfest but smoking is a no-no since 2011.

Cincinnati holds the second largest Octoberfest in the world.

Ortelius’s miniature map of Bavaria from 1602 is presented here.   

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.