On the first Oktoberfest Monday, the relaxed part of the Oktoberfest begins for Thomas Roiderer, the innkeeper of the hacker tent in Straßlach. “The weather is getting better and I do my rounds in the tent every day and greet the guests,” he says. Once the tent construction, tent inspection, personnel allocation, reservations and much more had been done for the time being, the host breathed a sigh of relief. The entry of the Oktoberfest landlords went dry on the stage before the first rain showers pelted down. The tent was full on the opening day, the beer was brought to the tables punctually after the twelve cannon shots after the Ozapfn, the band euphorically welcomed the guests after the two-year break. And now the party is on, and it’s finally getting chilled for landlord Thomas Roiderer.
However, trying to speak to him the day before the start of the Oktoberfest was a daring undertaking on Friday. Toni Roiderer, his father, warned: One should not take offense if the call falls on deaf ears. But Roiderer junior didn’t hang up as soon as he was reached on the phone. “Our Oktoberfest stress is now,” he says in the afternoon before the first day of the festival. Of course he had been in the tent all day and hadn’t had a quiet moment. But he took a minute to look forward to Monday: “From then on it will be very relaxed for us.”
Many guests have not seen the hacker tent host for three years, because the Wiesn has been canceled twice due to the Corona Pandemic. “But they could still have seen me,” laughs Roiderer. “We only had to come to Straßlach.” The Wirtshaus-Wiesn took place twice in his Gasthaus zum Wildpark, where he personally tapped two beats each time. Nevertheless, the real Wiesn is of course something completely different and the many encounters will be special. “We’re really looking forward to it,” says Roiderer. There will be plenty to talk about when the boss himself shows up in the old regulars’ boxes. A long-missed feeling for him and the visitors to finally celebrate again in the “Heaven of Bavaria”, as the tent is called.
Roiderer doesn’t mind that the next 15 Oktoberfest days will all be very long. That’s nothing special for a restaurateur anyway, but the host spends twelve to 15 hours every day in the Hacker tent. “I come very, very early, I’m the first in the morning and the last in the evening,” he says. “I lock the marquee office with my mother in the evening.” Of course, like everyone involved, he hopes for a peaceful Wiesn free from other bad news.