Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become
King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12th October
1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in
front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields have been named
Theresienwiese ("Theresa's fields") in honor of the Crown Princessever since,
although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the "Wies'n".
Horse races in the presence of the Royal Family marked the close of the event that was
celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision torepeat the horse races
in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of theOktoberfest.
In 1811 an added feature to the horse races was the first Agricultural Show, designed to boost Bavarian agriculture. The horse races, which were the oldestand - at one time - the most popular event of the festival are no longer held today. But the Agricultural Show is still held every three years during the Oktoberfest on the southern part of the festival grounds.
In the first few decades the choice of
amusements was sparse. The first carousel and two swings were set up in 1818. Visitors
were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands which grew rapidly in number. In
1896 the beerstands were replaced by the first beer tents and halls set up by enterprising
landlords with the backing of the breweries.
The remainder of the festival site was taken up by a fun-fair. The range of carousels etc.
on offer was already increasing rapidly in the 1870s as the fairground trade continued to
grow and develop in Germany.
Today, the Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world, with an international flavor characteristic of the 20th century: some 6 million visitors from all around the world converge on the Oktoberfest each year.
And since the Oktoberfest is still held on the Theresienwiese, the locals still refer to
the event simply as the "Wies'n". So " Welcome to the Wies'n" means
nothing other than "Welcome to the Oktoberfest"!