Munich Mayor Dominik Krause opens 191st Oktoberfest with two barrel strikes

Tapping the first barrel

Munich Mayor Dominik Krause officially opened the 191st Oktoberfest at 12:00 on 19 September 2026 by tapping the first beer barrel in the Schottenhamel tent. The 36-year-old politician from Alliance 90/The Greens needed two strikes of the mallet to drive the tap into the keg during his first opening ceremony since taking office roughly six months earlier. Krause proclaimed the traditional phrase "O'zapft is" to authorize the start of beer service across all festival tents on the Theresienwiese. Following longstanding convention, he presented the first one-litre mug (Maß) of beer to Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder of the Christian Social Union. The two leaders toasted to a peaceful festival while ceremonial gun salutes sounded across Munich to announce the start of the event. The tradition of the city mayor tapping the opening barrel dates to 1950, when Mayor Thomas Wimmer of the Social Democratic Party required 17 strikes, which remains the highest number needed to open the festival.

Memorial pause at the festival entrance

Krause introduced a change to the opening proceedings during the traditional parade of tent hosts and breweries toward the festival grounds. When the procession reached the main entrance of the Theresienwiese, Krause halted his carriage to hold a brief memorial for the victims of the 1980 Oktoberfest bombing. Krause, Second Mayor Mona Fuchs, and Third Mayor Verena Dietl stepped out of their carriages to stand together before the memorial monument. The right-wing extremist attack on the evening of 26 September 1980 killed 12 festival visitors and injured approximately 200 people, also resulting in the death of perpetrator Gundolf Köhler. Krause held the commemoration on opening day because he will be unable to attend the official anniversary ceremony due to a meeting regarding the host selection for the Olympic Games. Earlier in the morning, Krause published a photo on Instagram taken on a Munich subway platform before traveling to the grounds.

Morning admission and updated security measures

Thousands of visitors gathered outside the perimeter fences in the dark before dawn, with the majority dressed in traditional Dirndl and Lederhosen. Festival gates opened shortly after 9:00 under sunny skies and mild temperatures, a contrast to the hotter conditions recorded during the previous year. Crowds ran toward the beer tents to claim seating, though security personnel repeatedly halted the influx at access points to allow attendees onto the grounds in controlled groups. City authorities and police upgraded the security framework following dangerous overcrowding incidents that occurred on the second Saturday of the previous year. A dedicated coordination centre now operates on site to monitor and manage pedestrian flows across the festival area. Security operations include more than 50 artificial intelligence-supported cameras to detect crowd bottlenecks, alongside crowdspotter personnel active during peak days.

Attendance outlook and tent attendees

The 191st edition of the festival runs from 19 September through 4 October 2026, with city officials projecting attendance to exceed six million people. Tens of thousands of visitors who had occupied tables inside the tents since morning received their drinks immediately after the midday tapping concluded. The gathering inside the Schottenhamel tent brought together prominent figures from German politics, culture, and sport. Notable attendees included FC Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich, Munich Philharmonic chief conductor Lahav Shani, and Franz Herzog von Bayern. Former Green party co-leader Ricarda Lang attended the opening alongside television host Florian Silbereisen, musician DJ Ötzi, and the folk music duo Marianne and Michael.