Beer and merriment flow at the 189th Oktoberfest in Munich

Festival enjoy the first glasses of beer on day one of the 189th 'Oktoberfest' beer festival in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

MUNICH, Germany — Bridie O'Halloran drank the first beer of her life at Oktoberfest.

The 19-year-old Australian pronounced it “the best I've had” after finishing roughly a quarter of her litre (33 fluid ounce) mug on Saturday. Wearing a pink dirndl dress she’d bought just a few hours earlier, O'Halloran was surrounded by tens of thousands of other — likely more experienced — beer-drinkers for the first of 16 days of the 189th Oktoberfest in Munich.

The revelers celebrated Saturday to mark the official opening of the world’s largest folk festival. Mayor Dieter Reiter started the celebration at noon when he inserted the tap into the first beer keg.

Servers immediately began ferrying beers — each carrying up to 10 glass mugs — across the packed tents. Guests started clinking their mugs and taking deep gulps of beer in the stuffy heat inside as bands played traditional Bavarian folk music. But plaques reminded them not to dance on the tables.

The festival runs through Oct. 6 in 18 large tents covering the Theresienwiese fairground. About 6 million visitors are expected over the festival’s 16 days — up to 600,000 each day — and can expect to shell out between 13.60 and 15.30 euros (US$15.12 to US$17.01) for a big mug of beer. This year’s prices are roughly 3.87 per cent more than in 2023.

This year also includes stepped-up security in the wake of a deadly knife attack in Solingen, a city roughly 470 kilometres (292 miles) northwest of Munich. The violence on Aug. 23 left three people dead and eight more wounded, and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, without citing evidence. As a result, organizers added metal detectors to the security procedures for the first time in Oktoberfest’s history, but said there were no concrete threats.

Early Saturday, revelers sprinted through the fairgrounds at 9 a.m. as soon as the entrances opened, despite security officers’ attempts to keep the procession orderly. They laughed despite the morning chill — someone could be heard shrieking “why are we running!” — and raced to get in line again, but this time to be first inside the tents and claim their tables.

After a traditional parade and Reiter's ceremonial keg-tapping, festivalgoers inside and outside the tents turned their attention to beer and food, with roasted chicken, bratwurst and pretzels being among the most popular. Amusement park rides offered entertainment for young merrymakers who had journeyed to the fairgrounds with their parents.

Like many others there on Saturday, Mikael Caselitz, 24, was born and raised in Munich and has attended Oktoberfest for years. He said everyone should travel to the city for the festival at least once in their lives.

“It can get really crowded and disgusting when people puke on the side of the road,” he joked, “but overall it’s a really fun experience.”

Ollie Standen woke up at 6 a.m. to get in line well ahead of the noon keg-tapping. The 21-year-old from England is in Munich this year for a university exchange program and a local friend told him he had to join the festivities. He said he’s looking forward to trying different German beers that aren’t usually found in the United Kingdom.

“It’s a great German tradition and I’m excited to be here,” he said.

The event was skipped in 2020 and 2021 as authorities grappled with COVID-19, but returned in 2022.

The first Oktoberfest was held on Oct. 17, 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Theresa of Saxony. The venue, a meadow on the edge of Munich at the time, was called “Theresienwiese” to honor the bride. While that name remains, the start date has moved up to September, when the temperatures in Bavaria are usually warmer.