Oktoberfest – The History Part 1 The label Oktoberfest now refers to the famous Oktoberfest in Munich, but formerly Oktoberfest was only the name of any fair held in Oktober with the aim to using up the beer (which was) brewed in March. The new brew season began at 29th of September and ended on 23th of Apil. In the meantime the brewing was forbidden. The danger of fire caused by the boiling during the brew process was too high. Furthermore, the brewing process needed temperatures beneath 10 ° Celsius. The now famous Munich Oktoberfest was celebrated for the first time on Oktober, 17 1810. It started as a horse race on a meadow in front of the town walls in celebration of the wedding of the then Crown Prince Ludwig on Oktober, 12 1810. The Royal Court decided to the delight of the inhabitants of Munich to repeat the horse race the following year. Due to his enthusiasm for Greece the Crown Prince wanted to celebrate the Oktoberfest like the antic Olympic Games. Therefore, the Oktoberfest had in its early years a mainly sporting nature. The Oktoberfest is regarded as being the inspiration of the (Zappas) Olympics. The success of the Oktoberfest and of the Zappas Olympics prepared the ground for the modern Olympic Games. In the following years bowl alleys, swings, carousels etc had been added. Especially the lottery stalls attracted the poorer inhabitants. In 1819 the municipal authorities of the City of Munich took over the organisation of the Oktoberfest. The drawing show the 1810 horse race.