With over 300 events planned annually, Oktoberfest is by far the largest beer festival in the world. The 2012 Oktoberfest marks the festival’s 202nd anniversary since its inception in 1810, where it originated as a celebration to mark the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

The festival typically runs from September 22nd to October 7th and can be virtually found in every corner of the world. With over 300 Oktoberfests to partake in, here at the BarWhiz Blog we didn’t have the time, or the resources, to cover them all. For that we are sorry. We did however send some of our best researchers out and have brought back photos for four of the most wunderbar Oktoberfests across the globe. Prost!

Germany

This year the Munich Oktoberfest fairgrounds were one-fifth smaller, due to the inclusion of the traditional Zentral-Landwirtschaftsfest, an agricultural fair that occurs every four years during Oktoberfest. Although not a record high for the festival, 6.4 million people did attend over the 16 days and consumed a total of 6.9 million litres beer, making Munich’s Oktoberfest the largest in the world.

Here are some great shots of the festival:

United States

The largest Oktoberfest celebration in the United States is without a doubt the Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati festival. It takes place each year along Fifth Street in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, and although not as old as the original, Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati has been around since 1976. This year over 500,000 people attended the festival between September 21st to the 23rd and were able to participate in such events as the World’s Largest Chicken Dance, marshalled by the Cincinnati Reds great Tom Browning, the Samuel Adams Stein Hoisting Championship, and the Cincinnati.com Glockenspiel. Oh, and we can’t forget to include the annual Running of the Wieners.

Here are some pics of this year’s festival:

Brazil

Brazil is in the running for the 2nd largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany with their Oktoberfest Blumenau festival. This 18-day Oktoberfest just started this past Wednesday and we’ve already had a chance to see everything it has to offer, and more! This year the Oktoberfest celebrations have spilled out across the city and encompass more than just the traditional German Park area. Last year 564,000 people attended the festival and it is expected to surpass that this year. We can tell you, from just the first few days of the festival, we don’t see them having any problem surpassing last year’s numbers.

Here are some shots of the first few days:

Canada

Although Canada’s largest Oktoberfest celebrations take place at the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest, who by the way also lay claim to the 2nd largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany, I decided to choose a smaller event. Just one hour outside of Canada’s Capital City is a little town called Vankleek Hill, who is home to one of the best independent breweries, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company. Each year Beau’s takes over the agricultural fair grounds and hosts their very own Oktoberfest. In it’s 4th year the celebration has grown from a one-day event to include an entire weekend. On Saturday alone tickets were sold out for the 5000 capacity event. From keg toss contests, to spouse carrying races, this little festival that could has everything an Oktoberfest goer needs. Need proof? Check out the following photo gallery:

Author: Corey Rozon