Politics: A new federal party is founded – the Greens; The SPD/FDP coalition under Helmut Schmidt wins the parliamentary elections; a bombing at the Munich Oktoberfest kills 13 people; Ronald Reagan becomes the 40th president of the United States.

Culture: “Die Blechtrommel” by Volker Schlöndorff, an adaption of the novel by Günter Grass, is awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film; the French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, Alfred Hitchcock and Henry Miller die; John Lennon is shot to death in New York in broad daylight.

Sports: Germany wins the European soccer championships with a 2:1 win over Belgium; the Summer Olympics are held in Moscow. Due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 50 nations (including Germany) boycott the games.

Hot battle for cool wine
This was the Sausage Fair opening headline of the “Sonntag Aktuell” issue of 14.09.1980. Ten days later, the Rheinpfalz could again come up with impressive stats of the Sausage Fair. 570,000 visitors, 240,000 liters of wine, about 200,000 kg beef, pork, and veal, 60,000 chickens, and 45,000 knuckles. The “consumption” of pints was also immense. The Festhalle alone had to order 3,000 more pint glasses for the Post-Fair.
The wine tasting of the Sausage Fair committee showed that there were strict quality restrictions for wines at the Sausage Fair. 14 of 124 wines were denied to be appropriate for the Sausage Fair (Rheinpfalz 06.09.1980).
And the prices? A pint cost 4.80 DM at the stalls and 5.50 DM at the hall.
The fireworks at the end of the fair were, so the Rheinpfalz, a “finale without sensation”. Market master Lukas is cited, “No system at all, no finale”. However, the mood was not spoiled by this so that at lots of stalls already at 10.30 the wine had gone out.