Soon after daybreak on July 7, brave runners (some might say stupid runners) dash ahead of fighting bulls as they run 825 meters (half a mile) between the corral where the bulls are kept to the bull ring where they will be killed by matadors later in the day. Runners aim to feel the breath of the bulls on their backs, and some even goad the animals by swatting them with rolled up newspapers--all while trying to avoid being gored or trampled.

The San Fermin festival is reported to have began in 1591 when its purpose was purely practical, to move the bulls to the arena. The difference was that then only a handful of daring souls ran the gauntlet in front of the frenzied beasts. The tradition was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises in 1926, after which time many more foreigners began attending the festival and running with the bulls.

The German Munchener Oktoberfest goes back to an event in October 1810 and then developed into an annual event organised by the breweries and entertainment businesses in Munich. The German Munchener Oktoberfest very quickly acquired the reputation of being the largest public festival on Earth and, as a result of imitators all over the globe, became a festival form welcome everywhere. In 1810, nobody could have anticipated this meteoric development.

The Opladener Bierborse goes back to 1987, i.e. 177 years later, when Herbert Sondermann, a native of Opladen, had the idea of introducing a beer event and put this into effect in the form of a small event with seven beer stands in the pedestrian precinct in Opladen. At that time as well, nobody anticipated what a wonderful event was to develop from these beginnings. Today, Herbert Sondermann wears the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) of the Federal Republic of Germany for his services to Opladen; because the small beer event in the pedestrian precinct in Opladen has now become the largest open-air event in the history of the city of Leverkusen and the largest event of this kind anywhere in the world.

Only the large number of beer types from all over the world allow the visitors to sample even unusual varieties.

In more than ten years of development work, the Bierborse has been developed, according to stringent rules and numerous selection criteria, into one of the most successful German public festivals without any blending with other types of event such as funfairs or even junk markets. This also illustrates how it differs from the Munchener Oktoberfest.

Only the large number of beer types from all over the world allow the visitors to sample even unusual varieties. These include, for example, San Miguel from Spain, Efes from Turkey or Corona from Mexico which revive memories of past holiday trips.

The small house breweries whose beers are not often offered on draught outside their brewing locations are also regular guests at the BIERBORSE events. The range on offer is rounded off by the well-known German brands which form the foundation of the Bierborse. This is presented in a cosy beer-garden atmosphere.