Munich and the Bavaria region are perhaps most famous for FC Bayern Munich and, of course, its Oktoberfest. Last week Ticketmaster were invited out to the town of Erding, just 10 km from Munich, to celebrate their Herbstfest (Autumn Feast), a traditional festival that pops up all across the region in the weeks leading up to the Munich festival.
Herbstfests celebrate the end of the harvest and the start of autumn and tend to be more traditional and authentic than the now globally famous main event which takes over Munich. However, they are by no means small events. This one featured fun fairs, food stalls and two huge beer tents, one of which fit 7,500 people in it! We felt lucky to experience this uniquely brilliant event.
With brass bands playing traditional German songs and many international hits, the sight of everyone up on their tables singing the Tony Christie classic line “Show me the way to Amarillo” is one we’ll never forget. What struck us most is that it’s very much a family-friendly event in Germany with children being in attendance and a variety of non-alcoholic beverages and wines available, meaning there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
One of the advantages of being an international brand is that when customers in other territories want to bring their events to the UK, we are only a phone call away – and one such phone call back in the spring led to our invitation to Herbstfest last week. The Kostiuk Group produce major Oktoberfests all across multiple cities in Germany including Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Leipzig and they’ve worked closely with Ticketmaster in Germany for many years. This year they are reproducing an authentic Oktoberfest in London in a pop-up tent next to The O2. They are shipping the tents, fun fairs, beer, Steins, food, lederhosen and even traditional German waitresses for the 5 – 22 October event to replicate the German experience for us Brits to enjoy.
Ticketmaster are providing all ticketing services from online to door sales as well as all the box office infrastructure for Erdinger Oktoberfest London and we urge you to come and experience this if you’ve never been or have always wanted to make it to Germany but been unable to.
Story by Robert Fosterman
