Thousands of revelers jammed the downtown area Saturday to soak up the suds and kick off Oktoberfest, the world's biggest and best-known beer bash. Officials estimate more 6 million people will attend the 2-week-long binge of hoopla and are expected to consume nearly 1.4 million gallons of the brew. The annual event draws visitors from both home and abroad to savor the traditional Octoberfest fare _ hamhocks, sauerkraut, grilled chicken and sausages _ washed down with glasses of beer to the sound of blaring Bavarian folk music. The festival got its start as a wedding party when on Oct. 12, 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig, who later became King Ludwig I of Bavaria, married Princess Therese von Saxony-Hilburgshausen. That five-day celebration was held on the same patch of ground where the event is held today. During the early Octoberfests, the royal family paid the costs of the festival, but that tradition has long since faded and visitors are paying record prices for their brew this year. According to festival organizers, a liter of beer will cost on average about $3.70. Organizers said they expected consumption to equal or top last year's figures. Last year, revelers drank 1,396,720 gallons of brew and consumed a total of 732,859 grilled chickens and 349,594 pork sausages. Since its inception, the annual event has only been canceled 24 times, in 1854 and 1873 because of cholera epidemics, and during and after World War I and World War II.
