Tapping of the Firkin

Starts at approximately 8:20pm on Friday in front of the Festhalle Stage.

The first Oktoberfest was held in honor of the wedding of the Bavarian crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. The festival was repeated the same time the following year which signified the start of ongoing festivals in October.

It wasn't until the 1950s that the tradition of the "tapping of the firkin" (beer keg) was started by Mayor Thomas Wimmer. The mayor tapped the keg and called out "O'zapft is!" which means the keg has been tapped.

Thus, the tradition of tapping the first keg for the day began. Prost!