34th annual Ruidoso Oktoberfest

From 34th annual Ruidoso Oktoberfest Website:

The original German Oktoberfest celebration was started in 1810, when King Ludwig I of Bavaria decided to celebrate his marriage with Princess Theresa of Saxony-Hildburghausen in royal style. Originally it was meant to be just a simple horse race event but the Bavarian character quickly took over and it became a happy gathering of cheerful beer drinkers.

The celebration was such a success that Ludwig issued a royal decree making October festival time in Munich, Germany. The festival was dedicated to the fall harvest and to the Region's most famous product, beer. Tradesman and merchants came throughout Germany to join in the merry-making. They examined the crops, sang songs, danced and sampled the first beer of the season.

This year, visitors to the German Oktoberfest will consume 5 million liters of beer, 700,000 chickens, and 400,000 sausages. They will celebrate their 199th birthday and it is considered the largest festival in the world drawing over 7 million of visitors annually. To learn more about the German Oktoberfest click here.

In contrast here in Ruidoso, we are only celebrating our 34th annual Oktoberfest. We don't consume near that amount of chickens, sausages, or beer, but we make a good attempt at it, and we have a lot of fun doing it.