The beer is flowing and carnival rides running again at this yearâs 179th Oktoberfest in Munich. Known as the world's largest beer festival, the event dates to 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig was married to Princess Therese and the people of Munich were invited to attend the festivities. More than 6 million people are expected to attend this yearâs festival, which runs until Oct. 7. -- NOTE: We're going to be asking some viewers of The Big Picture to answer one or two anonymous survey questions before viewing the full post or you can choose to send a tweet or Facebook post instead. ( 31 photos total