2021 Oktoberfest cannot take place

Landlords' spokesman Peter Inselkammer: "A heavy blow"

Together with Christian Schottenhamel, Peter Inselkammer represents the community of Oktoberfest innkeepers as their spokesman. For him, the decision was "a heavy blow," as he told dpa. "We could never have imagined that it could come to this." He said that regular guests from the region in particular had secured their seats early on, despite all the uncertainties. He said 95 percent of them had already ordered tables like in 2019, the last time the Wiesn was held.

Showmen had hope for folk festivals in autumn

Peter Bausch, chairman of the Munich Showmen's Association, doesn't beat around the bush: "This hits us right in the gut," he tells dpa. "We're missing another whole year." After all, it's not just the Oktoberfest that's being canceled - "but another whole season." Statements by politicians had given rise to hope: "If there is to be normality in the fall, then normality also includes a folk festival," says Bausch.

Looking forward to Summer in the City: Otto Lindinger

We asked the spokesman for the landlords of the 21 small Wiesn tents, Otto Lindinger, how he would describe the assessment of the renewed Wiesn exit in three words?

"Sad, but true!" answers Lindinger. "The renewed Oktoberfest cancellation unfortunately hits us Kleine Wiesnzelte once again right in the middle of our great Wiesn heart." With all understanding for the fact that the Wiesn 2021 has to be cancelled, his colleagues and he can hardly wait to get active again: "We hope to be able to do our job again with full passion to make out guests happy – together with our employees."

Unfortunately, he says, that won't be possible again at Oktoberfest until 2022. What is missing in particular? "The contact with all our guests and the dear annual encounters with our regular guests."

Lindinger, however, tries to look forward to the summer in Munich anyway: "A very small consolation is the now clearly recognizable light at the end of this long gloomy tunnel – and that, hopefully, we will soon be able to be hosts again at the Summer in the City, the Wirtshauswiesn and perhaps also at one or two smaller festivals."

Claudia Trott misses the Wiesn fever in the city

The Wiesn cancellation for 2021 was "expected due to the pandemic," says Claudia Trott of the smaller Oktoberfest tent "Ammer Hühner- und Entenbraterei", and also completely understandable. "But my emotional pain after the official cancellation is nevertheless more intense than I thought beforehand."

She misses the "Oktoberfest fever" in the city starting in the summer, moreover, the construction and dismantling and all those involved who make the Oktoberfest possible. And what else? "The guests, the music, the smells ... - I just miss the whole Oktoberfest buzz. And so I'm really glad when my sadness about this year's cancellation fades and the full anticipation of the Wiesn 2022 comes."

Yvonne Heckl is missing the Wiesn way of life

The 1st chairwoman of the "Gesellschaft Bayerischer Schausteller", Yvonne Heckl, is of course sad that the Wiesn 2021 will have to be cancelled: "I had hoped for a long time. Taking into account the current case figures, this decision was to be expected, but it still hit me deep in the heart."

Heckl calls the decision "a major financial problem for everyone involved in the Wiesn, but also a way of life that is missing." Above all, though, she says she misses the contact with people.

"This year, the museum tent would be back at the Oidn Wiesn," says Yvonne Heckl, "and as director, I'm already overcome with great melancholy." She consoles herself with the hope of a summer in the city and the return of a little more normality. "And a little Volksfest flair!"