There is movement in the discussion about the future of the Herzkasperl tent at the Oidn Wiesn. In a joint motion, the city council factions of the Greens and SPD are now calling for the evaluation criteria for the Oide Wiesn to be adjusted, but only for next year’s Oktoberfest. This is intended to place greater emphasis on the cultural orientation of the Oidn Wiesn. They want a concept “that does better justice to the special character”.
As reported, Fraunhofer host Beppi Bachmaier’s popular Herzkasperl tent may be thrown out of the Oidn Wiesn this year because a competitor has allegedly achieved a higher number in the points evaluation. When allocating the Oktoberfest stands, up to 396 points are awarded in a total of 13 categories, which range from folk festival experience to ecology, but do not take cultural aspects into account. Therefore, an assessment by the cultural department should also be taken into account when deciding who is allowed to attend the Oide Wiesn. That has already been handed in. The administrative offices and city councilors involved remain silent about how it turned out.
One Petition to keep the Herzkasperl tent at the Oidn Wiesn (“Save Herzkasperl”) reached almost 10,000 signatures on Friday afternoon after ten days of running. It calls for the tent to be left there this year too. “An Oide Wiesn without a Herzkasperl tent is definitely unimaginable,” it says literally, “if only the area of the classic Oktoberfest would be expanded and the associated commercialization would mean, then even the most beautiful historical rides and the old tractors on display would be of no use.” The signatories hope that the city council will give the program in the culture tent more weight than the purely formal points evaluation.
Nobody there or in the city administration can or wants to say exactly how much discretion the city council actually has. Apparently there is a lot of uncertainty about what the city council can and cannot dare to do – or whether an applicant who is not accepted despite having a higher score might still be able to sue in court. In any case, SPD city councilor Klaus Peter Rupp says: “For 2024, a subsequent change to the evaluation criteria is not legally permissible.” This is clear because the tender has long been open.
Previous earnings should be given greater weight in the future
His colleague, Wiesn city councilor Anja Berger (Greens), also criticizes the current approach: “The current practice of carrying out the same application process with the same criteria for both events is neither sensible nor up-to-date.” The diversity of the offering and the special character of the cultural program should therefore be given higher priority. Folk culture, tradition and previous achievements for the Oide Wiesn should be given greater weight in the future.
Berger and Rupp are now calling for a joint proposal from the two groups to change the evaluation criteria for the years from 2025. The responsible department for labor and economics must revise the criteria for admission to the Oktoberfest “in order to do even better justice to the special character of the Oidn Wiesn in the future.”
Rupp and Berger are leaving it open for now as to what the decision will be for this Oktoberfest. On May 7th, the responsible city council committee for labor and economics must deal with the admissions for the Oktoberfest, where corrections to the administration’s proposal can then also be made. Time is of the essence because Oktoberfest starts on September 21st. The Herzkasperl tent has almost its entire program under wraps, albeit subject to approval. “You have to start planning so early,” says its artistic director, Martin Jonas, “otherwise the groups will be booked elsewhere.” It is not known what this looks like at its competitor, the Festhalle Bayernland. Its owner, Peter Schöniger, could not be reached on Friday. In the not particularly large scene of Bavarian folk musicians, apparently no one knows about a request for the Oide Wiesn.