If something breaks: The costume emergency service for the Oktoberfest

Created: 09/23/2022, 09:20 am

By: Lisa Fischer

Ready for the next Wiesn emergency service: Petra "Petzi" Schmidt-Grabsch in her traditional costume shop in Maisach.

© Weber

Actually, the costume can withstand a lot.

If it breaks while swaying on a beer bench or riding a roller coaster, there is the Wiesn emergency service from Maisach.

Manager Petra Schmidt-Grabsch has already experienced the strangest stories - from changing trousers behind the tent to calling a missing person.

Maisach – the lederhosen buttoned up, the dirndl closed with a “ratchet” on the zipper – and off we go, to the Oktoberfest in Munich.

Despite the rain and icy temperatures, numerous visitors have flocked to the Theresienwiese in recent days.

Right in the middle: Petra “Petzi” Schmidt-Grabsch.

But the owner of the Maisacher “Gehweida Trachtencouture” was not there for fun.

Rather, she helped the shivering visitors at the Wiesn and sold her traditional jackets between the beer tent and the chocolate fruit stand.

"They sold like hotcakes," says Petzi Schmidt-Grabsch.

The hottest time

“Wiesn-Notdienst” is what the qualified fashion designer calls her business, which she keeps busy next to her shop during the two weeks of the Oktoberfest.

"These 14 days are the hottest time of the year for me," says the native of Tegernsee.

It's not just the warm cardigans that the fashion designer makes with a seamstress in her studio that are in great demand.

Through her "Wiesn emergency service" she has experienced a wide variety of inquiries over the years.

"Once a gentleman's leather pants tore in a beer tent when he climbed over the bench," says Petzi Schmidt-Grabsch.

So he dialed the Wiesn emergency service and had the head of traditional costumes on the phone.

Equipped with several pairs of leather pants and a mobile EC device, Schmidt-Grabsch set off from Maisach.

In Munich, behind the beer tent, the man quickly changed his trousers, paid the fashion designer and was finally able to go back into the tent and enjoy the evening.

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But there are also Wiesn emergency services that Schmidt-Grabsch is already counting on.

Like, for example, a regular customer who travels from Hamburg every year to go to the Oktoberfest.

After her arrival in Munich on Saturday evening – and thus after the shop closes – she will be given one of the newest dirndls – made by Petra Schmidt-Grabsch.

But Petzi Schmidt-Grabsch has also provided emergency aid to tourists from abroad.

Once she received a call from a porter at a posh hotel in Munich.

One would need several leather trousers and equipment for Arab guests.

"I then went into the hotel with my pole on wheels," says Schmidt-Grabsch.

She was not allowed to go any further.

"I had to hand in the costumes - very mysterious." After two hours she was able to pick up the clothes rail - "completely empty, everything was bought," she remembers.

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Also strange

So far, callers who misunderstand and call the Wiesn emergency service have been very strange.

"Once a young man called, he was very desperate," says Schmidt-Grabsch.

It turned out that he had lost his girlfriend and was expecting support from the Oktoberfest emergency service.

"I couldn't help him.

I'm not a lost and found office or dating agency," says Schmidt-Grabsch and laughs.

Will there be such stories again this year – after a two-year break at Oktoberfest, which the part-time flight attendant had bridged by sewing traditional masks?

The costume couture boss will see that after the 14 days.

So far this year she has been able to provide visitors with cardigans and help a woman whose zipper burst with a dirndl.

But there was also something suitable for men to buy spontaneously in Feststrasse at the Wiesn.

And showmen, who already know the costume expert, gratefully bought warmer costumes, like an employee at the candy stand.

"I also had umbrellas under my arms and for the past few days I've been running around like a hawker," says Petzi Schmidt-Grabsch and laughs.

Also interesting: "A kind of accolade": Young band from Upper Bavaria is looking forward to the Oktoberfest premiere

You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.