Status: 22.09.2023, 06:59 a.m.
By: Lisa Metzger
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Everything used to be better – a phrase that is sometimes heard by older people. But does that also apply to the Oktoberfest? Oktoberfest visitors talk about the beloved and the tried and tested.
Munich - From the traditional folk festival character to the cliché-laden party mile: The Oktoberfest has always been a place where the spirits of good taste differ: What some love, others hate and vice versa. But not only brass band music and Ballermann hits meet again this year on the Theresienwiese, but also past and present. But was the Oktoberfest really very different in the past? Visitors remember.
What makes the Oide Wiesn so special? We spoke to die-hard fans. © Lisa Metzger
"Looking back to childhood": The Oide Wiesn is popular with many
For Hans and Inge Kühner, it is the first time in a long time that they are back at the Oktoberfest. "We're actually only here because of the Oidn Wiesn," says Kühner. He and his wife had come from the Hallertau, about 50 kilometers east of Munich. It's a bit more dignified, quieter – just like it used to be, says Hans Kühner. It reminds me of childhood. "The rides" remind him of this in particular, he says. "Everything is still as it used to be."
Inge and Hans Kühner have been visiting the Oide Wiesn for the first time in a long time. © Lisa Metzger
It is precisely for this reason that Alfred Kottmüller and Lisa de Vries "only go to the Oide Wiesn". Together with their two friends, the married couple Wilfried and Elke Doll from the Upper Palatinate, they visit the Oide Wiese, the smaller Oktoberfest, which takes place on a separate area of the Oktoberfest - "that's for the people of Munich", it is a bit quieter and more traditional than on the big Oktoberfest.
Alfred Kottmüller, Lisa de Vries, Elke and Wilfried Doll (from left) are looking forward to enjoying the Oide Wiesn together in good weather. © Lisa Metzger
The fact that "there are no crowds during the day" is definitely a plus point of the Oidn Wiesn, says Ingeborg Obermayer. Together with her friend Annemarie Kulina, she also visits the Oide Wiesn. But when asked whether everything was better in the past, she doesn't go into raptures: "Today it's much cleaner during the day at the Oktoberfest," says Obermayer. "And the tents are much more elaborately equipped" – and there were no controls in the past, everyone walked in. All in all, the two think the Oktoberfest is "good" as it is. Above all, "with the whole generations that come together here", the two like it very much.
Annemarie Kulina (left) and Ingeborg Obermayer (right) like to stroll through the Oktoberfest. © Lisa Metzger
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