Counting the cost of Oktoberfest

Germany’s annual Oktoberfest is known to be rowdy, but a look inside the event’s lost-and-found office reveals the material cost of the 16-day cultural festival.

Some 4,900 lost items were collected during Oktoberfest in 2011, including 1,220 items of clothing, 420 mobile phones, 380 pairs of glasses, 70 umbrellas and five wedding rings.
Less common items included a megaphone, a dog and a Viking helmet.

Mike Mueller, head of the lost-and-found bureau told AFP that four out of five of the items handed in at the office are never claimed: “We've seen everything. People have lost wallets with thousands of Euros, diamond engagement rings, all sorts of valuable stuff.

“The problem is that people get drunk and only realise they've lost stuff the day after. As a lot of the people are tourists, they have already left and they can't get back to reclaim their things.”
Items left unclaimed after the festival comes to an end are transferred to the main lost-and-found office in Munich. Objects belonging to foreign visitors are then transferred to their respective embassies and consulates, where they are often collected by sheepish festival goers.

Oktoberfest takes place in Munich in the southern Germany state of Bavaria every year in late September and early October. This year’s event concludes on October 7.

source:http://www.dotwnews.com