Oktoberfest...In Your Home Town

Oktoberfest! It's the world's biggest fair and liveliest beer party. From September 22 through October 7, some six million people will descend on Munich, where they'll stuff themselves with chicken and pork knuckles and drink foamy lager out of huge steins while swaying to brass band music.

Bavaria's brewing calendar made Oktoberfest inevitable. Before refrigeration, brewing in warm weather was a crapshoot: contaminants like wild yeast often spoiled the beer. So brewers took the summer off. But not before making one final batch and storing it in a cool place in the mountains. The beer was called Märzen, a robust, reddish-amber lager Bavarians enjoyed all summer.

When September's cooler days arrived, the brewers returned to their kettles. And with a new batch of beer on the way, it was time to finish off the last of the Märzen. In 1810, Münchners were given one more reason to drink up: Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese. Their nuptial celebration turned into--or, more likely, became the excuse for--Oktoberfest.

A lot has changed since the first Oktoberfest: a harvest fair was added; carnival rides made their appearance; and local breweries set up beer tents for the crowds. The beer got a makeover as well: Märzen became a lighter, less potent brew called Oktoberfest, or simply festbier.

For many of us, a trip to Munich is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But every fall, thousands of North American communities, large and small, stage homegrown Oktoberfests. Legend has it that Blob's Park, a dance hall in Jessup, Maryland, staged the first one in 1947. The idea caught on quickly; German-American societies and local chambers of commerce launched their own celebrations. Here are some of the best: