No Oktoberfest in Mainz: the festival tent remains closed due to a lack of permits

No “Ozapft is” in Mainz: According to the city, the festival tent on the exhibition grounds is not allowed to open to guests even after a decision by the Mainz administrative court. The reason for this is a lack of permits for construction and fire protection. The Mainz Administrative Court rejected an urgent application from the organizer. The city announced that he wanted to ensure that the marquee was considered a “floating structure” and could therefore be erected without a building application.

She sees the court's decision as confirming her view that it is a "permanent, stationary structure" that is "used as a meeting place." The written justification for the court decision is currently pending. The organizer was initially not available for comment in the evening.

The city explained that the documents presented by the organizer on Friday still did not prove the safety of the festival tent. The necessary applications and evidence had not been submitted until the evening, including no building application. “To date, no fire protection report has been submitted. The stability has not been conclusively proven either,” says the city.

According to the organizers on the homepage, the 6,050 square meter festival tent offers around 5,000 seats. The 20th Mainz Oktoberfest was actually supposed to start there this Thursday (October 8th).

The conflict over the marquee has a long history. Last year, the building authority had already tolerated the Oktoberfest under strict conditions and conditions “as a final interim solution,” the city explained. The organizer was then informed that further tolerance of the interim solution would not be possible. This was followed by several requests from the organizer for the necessary documents. Finally, he was given a final deadline on September 25th to submit the documents.