Krah anniversary - let's dance on the bench!
How do you celebrate a 50th anniversary appropriately? What´s better than with a tradition that has proven itself even longer... for exactly 208 years. Instead of an in-house party, we organized a company trip to the Oktoberfest in Munich, an event that is known and loved all over the world and that has now even many international imitators.
For the 7-hour drive from the company to Munich we rented a spacious bus, to be able to store the obligatory luggage: because in order to visit the Oktoberfest traditional clothing must not be missing. Even if the dress code is not an obligation to visit the tents - in fact, no Munich citizen would appear at the Oktoberfest without the traditional outfit.
So what did we have in our luggage? Men wear leather trousers and the ladies dress up with a dirndl. The right footwear is very important for a nice Wiesn experience. The area around the biggest folk festival is otherwise quickly a stumbling block. Also with the extensive dancing on the benches (dancing on the tables is taboo) heels are rather unfavorable. And one thing is for sure: Hardly anyone leaves the tents without having danced at least once on the bench... :)
Celebrations take place in large tents. The traditional beer tents. Fourteen large tents and a whole lot of small and medium-sized tents make it difficult to decide where to drink your “Mass”, the traditional mug of beer, containing 1 liter, or eat your snack. Even if the entrance is generally free and the tents - depending on the available space - are freely accessible, we have taken precautions. We have reserved 3 large tables in advance in the Schottenhamel tent, the most suitable tent for our 50-year trip, because Schottenhamel is also pure tradition: Here, on the very first day of the yearly event, with the “O’zapfen” (piercing of the first beer barrel) the complete Oktoberfest is opened. Only then may the other tents start pouring beer.
On the trip to the Bavarian capital we have already prepared ourselves with some drinks and the right music. As a rule, hits are played in the tents. In each tent there are live bands playing mainly cover versions. Depending on the tent the choice of songs is different. One is however the same in all larger tents: It is celebrated what the stuff holds! Accordingly also party music is in demand: from traditional people and/ or blowing music over to disco hits, from rock to pop – most important is creating atmosphere and that it is suitable for singing along and dancing.
Our tables were booked for 3.5 hours. How much beer can you manage during this time? Enough to wash-down a traditional “Wiesn-hendle” (fried chicken) We had chosen the last “Wiesn”- weekend and even the last festival day. Thus not only a fantastic company event ended around 23:00 o’clock, but also the complete Oktoberfest 2018.
We are currently considering whether a 51-year company anniversary is also worth celebrating....
Mitsch - Marketing Manager KAT GmbH