Grand entry of the Oktoberfest landlords and breweries
Date: Saturday, 22th September 2012, 10.45 am and lasts about 45 minutes.
Route: Sonnenstraße-Schwanthalerstraße to the Oktoberfest grounds.
This is the official prelude to the opening of the Oktoberfest and involves about 1,000 participants, including the landlords' families in decorated carriages, the magnificent horse-drawn drays of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats and all the beer tent bands.


Oktoberfest Costume and Riflemen's Parade
Date: Sunday, 23th September 2012, 10 am and lasts 2 - 2 1/2 hours, about 7000 performers, 7 km distance.
Route of the parade:
Max II. Denkmal, Maximilianstraße, Residenzstraße, Odeonsplatz, Kardinal-Faulhaber-Strasse, Pacellistrasse, Maximiliansplatz, Karlsplatz-Stachus, Sonnenstraße, Schwanthalerstraße, Paul-Heyse-Straße, Georg-Hirth-Platz, Kaiser-Ludwig-Platz, Festwiese.
World-famous procession on the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest. The Costume und Riflemen's Procession gives an impressive insight into the fascinating diversity of customs rooted in the heart of Bavaria, in Franconia, Swabia, the states of Germany and in neighboring European countries. A varied succession of regional costume groups, "troops" in historical uniforms, marching bands, riflemen, thoroughbred horses, oxen, cows, goats, the decorated drays of the Munich breweries, floats displaying typical local traditions and historic carriages all pass by in a 7-kilometer-long procession through the streets of the city center. Ribboned trees, harvest garlands, craftsmen's tools from bygone days, harvest produce, dancers decorated with flowers, stars and crowns, trumpeters on horseback, flag-throwers and a host of other performers transform this traditional Munich procession into a brilliant highlight on the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest.

Open-Air Oktoberfest Music Concert
Date: Sunday, 30th September 2012, 11 am
(If the weather is bad, the concert will be postponed until Sunday, 2nd October)

Venue: on the steps of the Bavaria statue
A bigband open-air concert of all Oktoberfest bands with some 400 musicians takes place on the second Sunday of the festival.

The Bavarian Central Agricultural Festival (ZLF)
celebrates its 125th jubilee
Date: Saturday, 22th - Sunday, 30th September 2012

The Bavarian Central Agricultural Festival (ZLF) celebrates its 125th jubilee from 22nd to 30th September, 2012 - right at the same time and place as the Oktoberfest. One year after the first Oktoberfest, the ZLF, in 1811 was organized for the first time, in rememberance of the wedding of the Bavarian crown prince Ludwig and Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The theme of the jubilee festival is "Agriculture as centre of life". A reproduction of a globe that can be walked through is to symbolize the global importance of agriculture and forestry as well as food industry. The latest developments in the field of renewable energies, quality assurance of our food and the theme "seasonal - regional - global" are central issues of the festival.






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