How Munich (Munchen) earned the score

Let’s Meet Munich, Germany

Situation: In 1801 King Ludwig celebrated his wedding inviting everyone from Munich.

History

Action: On the 10 year anniversary of his wedding, he thought, lets hold another party. It has been a tradition ever since.

Result: 6.4 Million Tourist Spending $1,500,000,000 in total.

Summary

As I sit here watching Beerfest, I wonder if King Ludwig would have ever thought his wedding would have inspired this movie. While the two are almost nothing alike, the celebration with beer is the same. Oktoberfest isn’t only celebrated in Germany, it is celebrated from The US to China. It all started when a sergeant under King Ludwig proposed celebrating it annually for no other reason than to have fun. Celebrating Germany’s beer hall for no other reason than to have fun and raise moral. Oktoberfest has literally boosted Munich’s economy for centuries.

It started as a small event, on the ten year anniversary of King Ludwig’s wedding, roughly 12,000 people attended, today, roughly 6.4 million people attend. Think about that, King Ludwig’s wedding inspired an event that for 200 years would sustain Munich. Bringing in as much as $1.5 BILLION Euros a year.

It estimates that of the $1.5 billion, about a BILLION of the money spent in Germany during oktoberfest is on lodging. People, this is a 16 day event. That means for, and I mean lets be fair and say this money is spent over 20 days to account for early and late arrivals. That means $75 million dollars are being spent a day.

Sit with those numbers for a moment. An event that started with roughly 12,000 guests now draws roughly 6.4 million, and it does it every single year. The growth did not come from a mine, a factory, or a highway that could dry up. It came from a party that people wanted to be part of, and from a city willing to celebrate the same thing for two centuries without ever getting tired of it. That is the whole point. When the draw is a good time rather than a fragile resource, it keeps paying out.

Notice too how far the idea traveled. Oktoberfest is celebrated from the US to China, all because a sergeant under King Ludwig proposed doing it again the next year for no reason other than to have fun and raise moral. The lesson for other towns is not to copy the beer halls. It is to find the one thing worth repeating and then repeat it with real conviction.

Imagine if a town like Little Rock adopted a similar but differently themed festival since Leavenworth has taken the whole Bavarian Theme. Let’s say the city developed a habit of really celebrating halloween. (This article was written before learning about Anoka.) People come from all over the US to celebrate, like South Padre for spring break or Coachella in California. The town would develop a festival that could help sustain its economy as long as they know how to have fun. The income isn’t based on a nearby resource or other fallible economy. It is sustainable as long as it is fun (If you aren’t having fun, that is a different issue).

Like Oktoberfest it could inspire a movie, Beerfest. All those halloweened people could make for an excellent cinematic thriller for a chase scene or a horror movie. Just saying. This just helps to eternalize the festival!

Like Oktoberfest lederhosen, maybe the town becomes renowned for the costumes they make developing a unique side economy of high end costumes.

Why Other Towns Should Follow Munich (Munchen)’s Lead

Like Oktoberfest’s Beer Steins, maybe the city becomes known for the insanely realistic props that are sold, developing another unique side economy with prop manufacturing and vending.

You give people the ability to profit in fun and unique ways. This makes the town interesting and fun.

If people have enough fun, you can develop a resource for your people to profit from with nothing more than letting loose and letting people do their thing.

THE OTHER THING I would like to leave you with is you have to celebrate your own unique “thing”. Find your niche, let your people celebrate!