Zinzinnati Oktoberfest: Cincinnati's Version of the Annual Festival Held in Munich, Germany

Beginning in the early 19th century, German immigrants began to settle in the area around Cincinnati, Ohio. Around the same time, across the Atlantic Ocean, Prince Ludwig I and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen of Bavaria married, and the successful wedding party that followed became a Munich tradition known as Oktoberfest.

Over 150 years later, in 1976, Cincinnati residents began to celebrate their own "Zinzinnati Oktoberfest," with German-style food, music, and beer. Proclaimed the world's second largest celebration of Prince Ludwig's wedding by the Guinness Book of Records, over eighty thousand bratwurst will be served during the two day event, along with fifty-five thousand sausages, twenty-five thousand potato cakes, and one ton of potato salad.

'Oktoberfest' also refers to a darker, stronger, and maltier beer brewed especially for the festival. Served in one-liter tankards, Oktoberfest beer was originally brewed in March to a higher strength than other beers, so that it would not spoil during the warm summer. At the Munich fair, local breweries operate 'Bierzelt' tents, each of which may have enough room for hundreds or even thousands of people.

At the Cincinnati festival, however, the focus is less on the beer and more on the food being served. This is obviously signaled by the lack of traditional beer halls and instead a large number of food tents, serving a mix of authentic and unauthentic German food such as bratwurst, goetta, large pretzels, potato pancakes, and sauerkraut. The beer served at the southwestern Ohio festival is mostly not of German origin, but plenty of domestic draft beers are available.

Traditional Bavarian music is also available both in modern day Germany and southwestern Ohio, where an eleven-piece ensemble titled "The Bier Band" plays on the first day of celebrations and a six-piece group called "The Zinzinnati Bierband" entertains on the second.

All in all, Cincinnati's imitation of the world's largest people fair, Oktoberfest, proves to be an enjoyable time that should be experienced by those around the region who cannot make it overseas. The city's German heritage has blessed it with a rich cultural tradition that cannot be passed up.