Oktoberfest, Odd Shot Monday, Camera Critters

Sorry i am combining camera critters and Odd shot monday in one post as i have been gone.
This deer was at the Abby in Mt Angel wich i will be posting about soon
Click on Camera Critters on side bar to join Misty for this weeks critter shots
Please click on Odd shots on side bar to Join Katney in her Odd shots this week
I thought this was a fun Odd shot, the dog was dressed as a pirate at the Oktoberfest vendors


So this week end we took our trip to Mt Angel Oregon for there Oktoberfest, I have always wanted to go there, but never seemed to make it when they have it, and i have to say it was a wonderful time. 4 days of festivities. Pictures to follow but here is a question:
Do you know the history behind Oktoberfest? Being German myself I really didn't know the meaning behind it, so had to look it up, and here is what I found out about it.Very interesting.
Click on photos for better viewing

The Royal Wedding

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 Princess ever 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 to repeat the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest.

The Oktoberfest continues in 1811

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 oldest and - 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 beer stands 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.

174th Oktoberfest 2007

Today, the Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world, with an international flavor characteristic of the 21th 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"