Originally the Bergkirchweih was a fair that was held at today's Martin-Luther-Platz at Pentecost, but since a church was located there, the fair was soon found to be disturbing for Sunday services. Therefore, in 1755, the festival was moved to the grounds next to the Schießhaus (marksmen's clubhouse) that was built by the community in 1729. On these grounds, the Altstädter Schützen- gesellschaft (Altstädter marksmen's association) used to organise their annual shooting match. All this took place on Thursday after Pentecost, a day which is still remembered as 'Erlanger Day'.
In its early days the Bergkirchweih was only a festival of three days, but it was soon extended to the time between the Sunday of Pentecost and the Monday after the next Sunday. In former times the Thursday before Pentecost was a very significant day, because it was the day of the beer test. It was tradition that on that particular day the citizens of Erlangen tasted the beer of the different breweries in order to see whether it was any good and had the right original wort.