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Oktoberfest

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Why we celebrate Oktoberfest in September

Every year millions of people around the world wonder why the German tradition known as Oktoberfest is celebrated primarily in the month of September. The annual celebration is best known for its beer, food and general celebration of German culture. But given the name, shouldn’t the shindig primarily take place in its namesake month? The official Oktoberfest website explains. The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810, with a one-day horse-race held as part of the wedding festivities for Bavarian King Ludwig I and his wife, Theresie. The crowd liked it so much, that it became an annual event, eventually developing into the world of marching bands, sausages and colorfully-dressed beer maidens we know today. But over the decades, the horse-race disappeared, and the event grew to more than two weeks long — stretching the event into mid-October. Since fall can be quite cold in Bavaria, even snowy, a decision was made to start the festivities earlier…

Best Oktoberfest Celebrations in the U.S.

For beer drinkers, the month of September brings the year’s main event: Oktoberfest (save questions about the name for another article). The time-honored annual fall tradition of debauchery begins this Saturday. Of course, Munich is the original Oktoberfest. More than 6 million people from around the world decend on the city every year to guzzle nearly 2 million gallons of beer. But for those of us who can’t get away overseas, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the German festival here at home. More than 46 million German-Americans — the largest single ethnic group — have gifted us with plenty of places to help them partake in their wunderbar celebration. To help you decide where to celebrate Stateside, WalletHub has crunched data to create a list of the top 100 best cities for Oktoberfest celebrations. The data crunchers used 23 indicators including sheer number of breweries and beer gardens, overall safety and walkability, average price of beer,…