About oxen, horses ...and the first round-about
In 1811, an agricultural festival was added to the horse race. Its main attraction was a competition in which the most splendid horses and oxen were awarded prizes. The horse race ceased to be held after 1938, but the agricultural festival has been a part of the Oktoberfest up to this day. It takes part every four years on the southern part of the Theresienwiese. In these years, as there is less space for the Oktoberfest, it's called a "small" Oktoberfest.
The people from Munich wanted to have a little fun, too. 1818, the first carrousel and two big swings were set up. Finally beer counters were added.. But the people wanted more: 1896 the first of the huge beer tents were started as a joint venture of their proprietors and different breweries. Still today only breweries from Munich are allowed to sell beer on the Oktoberfest. There were also more carrousels and swings, and soon people could buy food, too. In 1870 the Oktoberfest could not take place due to the French-German war. And 1873 was not a year to celebrate, either: the cholera had broken out in Munich. But in the years to come, the attractions of the Oktoberfest kept getting more and more exotic: 1879 the organizers of the fair presented an African tribe, 1880 (the first year that electric light was used at the Oktoberfest) you could marvel at a group of wax figures. In 1881 the biggest chicken rotisserie in the world opened on the fair grounds. Finally, in 1892 visitors could drink their beer out of the famous 1-liter glas mugs for the first time.