Which pandemic led Munich to cancel Oktoberfest in both 2020 and 2021?

The COVID-19 pandemic led Munich to cancel Oktoberfest in both 2020 and 2021.

The cancellations were announced because the festival’s enormous crowds, packed beer tents and international visitors made effective infection control impractical. Oktoberfest was scheduled for 19 September–4 October in 2020 and 18 September–3 October in 2021, but neither edition took place.

These were exceptional cancellations in the festival’s long history. Earlier interruptions were caused by events including cholera epidemics, wars, hyperinflation and the Second World War. The pandemic cancellations were the first since the postwar era to remove the regular festival for two consecutive years.

A common mix-up is confusing the cancellations with a smaller “autumn festival” held after the Second World War. That was a postwar substitute, not the reason for the 2020 and 2021 cancellations. Oktoberfest returned in 2022, after the most severe pandemic restrictions had eased.