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Preparing for the Oktoberfest: avatars are approaching
Status: 3:45 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
A copy of the Wiesn Wirte Krug for the Oktoberfest 2023 is on display.
Source: Lennart Preiss/dpa
Politically correct rides, more organic and probably free drinking water for the first time: The Wiesn 2023 presents itself woke and continues to strive for more sustainability. And still analogue for the time being. But that should change soon.
The beer tents are under construction, the beer is brewed and the Oktoberfest tables are already well booked: Munich is getting ready for the Oktoberfest. Soon, however, guests will also be able to stroll virtually across the festival grounds: An online game is currently being developed in which Oktoberfest fans can visit the festival as avatars with VR glasses. The Wiesn is a traditional festival, but does not lose touch with the times, explained Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) on Friday.
Baumgärtner emphasized that the game was not intended as a precaution for the next pandemic. He also doesn’t believe that the virtual Wiesn variant could reduce the number of people attending the real folk festival. “I have no reason to believe that the Oktoberfest beer is only drunk in front of the screen.” This year there will be only one prototype for selected users anyway – the guests have to come in person.
Visitors can look forward to innovations such as the “Mr. Gravity», in which gondolas rotate on a disk. Here you go “through the city at 100 km/h,” said Baumgärtner. Also new are a café in the historic circus wagon and two “crazy” running shops with Caribbean and Australian flair, “Cracy Island” and “Cracy Outback”. The latter has a koala washing facility and a kangaroo boxing school – but “nothing that you no longer want to see today.”
Last year, racist-sexist motifs at Oktoberfest shops caused a stir. For this year’s Oktoberfest, the showmen concerned painted over the representations.
The hosts also want to ensure more sustainability. A round table meeting with city and farmer representatives met for the first time in June. Before that, there was a heated dispute as to whether an Oktoberfest would only be possible with organic products or at least an organic quota. Now the Paulaner marquee is leading the way and is only offering organic chicken for the first time.
According to Baumgärtner, the city is currently working flat out to set up free drinking water stations for the first time this year. In view of the increased prices, this was recently suggested by the city council. “We’re trying to make that possible,” promised Baumgärtner. However, there are bureaucratic and logistical hurdles. “A water tap at the Wiesn has a lot of lead time.” The water dispensers should also be visually appealing. But there will be “no marble statues with water-spouting heads”.
A liter of table water costs an average of 10.04 euros in the tents, after 9.67 euros in the previous year. A beer beer is between 12.60 euros and 14.90 euros, an average of 6.12 percent more than in the previous year.
Increased energy prices are causing problems for innkeepers and showmen again this year. According to reports, there should not be a comprehensive waiver of gas patio heaters outside, which the innkeepers had agreed on last year out of solidarity in view of the impending gas shortage.
Also new: the hosts want to enable guests to sell unused reservations on an online portal at the original price. For years they have been fighting against overpriced gray market sales. In some cases, several thousand euros are required for a table on the relevant portals. The hosts, on the other hand, only require the purchase of food and drink vouchers and a manageable processing fee.
The Wiesn lasts from September 16th to October 3rd, two days longer than usual. The city council extended the festival from last Sunday, October 1st, to German Unity Day. However, Baumgärtner does not expect any records. Around 5.7 million visitors came to the first Wiesn after the pandemic in 2022, a good half a million fewer than in 2019. One reason was probably the bad weather with cold and rain.
2023-07-28 08:56:07
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