Oktoberfest for 2020 has now been canceled

Oktoberfest (aka Wiesn) is going to be canceled for 2020 due to the ongoing threats of coronavirus.

Oktoberfest is one of the biggest events in Europe and is held in Germany each year. The event dates back over 200 years and actually has been canceled about 24 times due to things like war and also epidemics.

And this year, it looks like they will be adding one more year for a total of 25 cancellations.

Officials in Bavaria have decided that the risk is simply too high to allow the German beer festival to go on this fall. The billion-dollar event event was scheduled to take place September 19th through October 4th and expected to see close to six million guests attend. 

Just like other major events where throngs of people congregate like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, it’s easy to see how the virus could be spread through crowds that linger in beer tents and surrounding alleyways and streets.

This cancellation is not too surprising given that Germany has put up one of the best defenses against coronavirus and kept their numbers in check. It would be unlike them to allow such a huge event to take place given what we know so far.

You might be wondering why they just don’t postpone the event but Oktoberfest is not really an event that is meant to be postponed.

Clemens Baumgärtner, the head of Oktoberfest stated:

“The Wiesn (Oktoberfest) is a total work of art that you either do completely or not at all – and this work of art cannot be moved backwards or made in a smaller form”

This does make me wonder about how other countries in Europe will handle tourism after this summer. There have been some discussions about some European countries not opening up their borders to visitors until the fall or perhaps even 2021.

I think if you are planning on attending any type of major event in Europe in the fall of 2020, you should be well prepared for that event to be canceled or at least post-poned.

I still don’t think that there will be a complete block on visitors during the late summer/fall like has been discussed but at this point you can’t rule out anything until we see if a second wave starts to arrive as fall approaches.

H/T

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