http://www.bayern.de/muenchen/english/octoberfest/octoberfest_history.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I., married Princess Therese of Sax-Hildburghausen on 12th October 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities that were held on the meadows in front of the city's gates to celebrate the happy royal event.
The fields were named "Theresa Meadows" (Theresienwiese) in honor of the Crown Princess, a name that has been kept until the present day, even though to locals have since abbreviated it to "d'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 to repeat the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest.
In 1811 an added feature to the horse races was the first Agricultural Show for the purpose of the betterment of Bavarian agriculture. Later on, organizational reasons made it necessary to remove the horse races - as the oldest and most popular event of the festival - from the "Wies'n", but the "Central Agricultural Festival" is still held every three years on the southern area during the Oktoberfest.
In the initial decades the choice of amusements was sparse. The first roundabout and two swings were set up in 1818. Visitors were able to quench their thirst at small beer booths which grew rapidly in numbers. In 1896 the beer both were replaced by the first beer tents and halls that were set up by enterprising publicans with the backing of the breweries.
The other area of the festival is taken up by a fun-fair that has grown continuously with the development of the fair-ground fraternity in Germany since the 70s of the 19th century as showmen presented more and more ambitious attractions with each passing year.
Today, the Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world, with its characteristic international orientation for the 20th century.
