The 187th Oktoberfest on the Theresienwiese in Munich, Germany, will take place from September 17 to October 3, without conditions or restrictions relating to COVID-19. This was announced by Munich’s Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter on April 29.
The festival was cancelled two years running due to the pandemic.
Both the war in Ukraine and the global pandemic played roles in Reiter’s decision to reinstate Oktoberfest, he says. "A cancellation of Oktoberfest 2022 is not possible," he explains.
At the moment, there are no plans to impose restrictions on access to the tents or to impose conditions such as a mask requirement, and Reiter stresses that there is currently no legal authority for this: "Both the federal government and the Free State of Bavaria have not created any legal regulation that would enable me as Lord Mayor to issue any access restrictions.”
The traditional tapping of the first beer barrel in the Schottenhamel tent by the Lord Mayor will mark the start of the Oktoberfest on September 17 at 12h00.
