European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sa8 Prter Jaeger music Beer and a festive tent a three key ingredients in Munich s biggest  181-year-old party ready for another roundly Joseph Owen staff writer just As falling leaves signal autumn s arrival elsewhere in Germany one elderly resident of Munich s Schwanthaler Strasse knows oktoberfest has begun when people Start falling into his shrubs. Quot you be always got to be checking to make sure everything s locked up Quot he said leaning Over a Garden Gate that screens his property from surging crowds of merry makers during the festival. Quot the festival is real bad there s no doubt about  most oktoberfest events occur two blocks away at the Theresie Wiese. Before new subway stations opened there a few years ago loudspeakers on Schwanthaler Strasse used to Boom throughout the evening announcing the arrival of trams every few minutes. Now the streetcars Are gone but the old Man who declined to give his name said he still occasionally finds Drunken visitors sleeping in his Hedges during the 16 Days of oktoberfest. Munich tourism officials promote the festival As the perpetuation of a 181 year old tradition As a spectacle of color and pageantry and As an Opportunity to Sample bavarian culture. Some visitors including Many americans who plan to attend this year accept that description. Others see it As Little More than the world s biggest Keg party. Quot the people go there to get drunk. That s the Only reason they go there a said Susanne Weber 23, a German artist who lives in Munich and who has worked the Quot pics a Quot As the festival grounds Are nicknamed. Last year the Beer taps at Theresie Wiese yielded 5.4 million liners of Beer a More than in any other year except 1985. Granted not All the Beer was consumed a a lot invariably gets spilled or wasted a and a Small amount of the total sales a about 2.8 percent a was alcohol free. But still there s no doubt that a lot of people were pounding Down serious quantities of intoxicating suds. Maybe it s no coincidence that the Theresie Wiese is shaped like a kidney. Richard v. Dillenbeck station manager for the american red Gross in Augsburg said volunteers from his group staffed the German red Gross tent every Clay during the last two oktoberfest translating for English speakers. Injuries totalled about 4,400 in -1989 and 4,500 in 1990, he said and almost All of them involved people who had been drinking alcohol. Many injured people show up literally feeling no pain because the alcohol has anaesthetized them he1 said. But Dillenbeck does t consider the1 numbers of injuries alarming considering there were about >.7 million visitors it the oktoberfest last year. Quot i think the injuries arc a reality. They re going to happen when you have that Many hundreds of thousands of people together a he said adding that bouncers in the Beer tents do a Good Job of controlling patrons behaviour. Rebec Ca l. Dubois 18, a science major at the University of Maryland s Campus on Mcgraw Gastern in Munich said she attended the festival for the first time last year. Quot a lot of people just drank so much that they were being carried out on stretchers Quot she said a but added that she plans to go again this year. Quot i Here was a lot to see. If you were to c ome Here from the continued on / age 41 september 12, 1991 stripes Magazine 3