Organizers at Munich's popular Oktoberfest say there have so far been significantly fewer visitors this year compared to 2014. The city's mayor, Dieter Reiter, said only three million people visited the Oktoberfest grounds, also known as the "Wiesn," in the festival's first week. Last year, around 300,000 people more had attended the festival in its first seven days and two years ago, organizers recorded 3.5 million visitors.

The 10 percent drop halfway through Oktoberfest was probably due to bad weather and "hesitant" participation by guests from neighboring countries, Munich's deputy mayor, Josef Schmidt, told the Munich daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung."

Visitors this year also seemed a little less excited about the traditional food. Food sellers said only 55 oxen and around 22 calves had been eaten compared to 60 and 27 last year. Organizers said that many guests were choosing vegetarian food over meat and this could be the reason why meat consumption was lower, the "Süddeutsche" wrote.

Refugees at the festival

Some Germans had expressed concerns that mixing Oktoberfest with refugees could cause unrest and attacks on migrants. Police were also concerned how exhausted migrants would react to drunken revelers on arriving at the central station in Munich. Refugee trains had, however, been redirected to other stations for the festival's duration.

The refugee influx also heightened security fears. But police said they had "not heard of a single incident between arriving migrants and visitors to Oktoberfest." Many locals also brought migrants with them to the festival to acquaint them with Germany's culture.

"It is important to make a point that we continue welcoming people after they have arrived at the central station," Markus Rinderspacher, a member of the Bavarian parliament who treated some migrants to Oktoberfest, said.

Odd news from the festival grounds

The lost-and-found office of the Oktoberfest said this year's lost items included identity cards, wallets, eyeglasses, cameras and oddly enough, a wheelchair. Officials said they were perplexed after a man on a wheelchair decided to take a ride in one of the festival's giant Ferris wheels. However, he left the place on his two feet after the ride was over, leaving the wheelchair behind, police said.

Dentures, keys, mobile phones, jackets, pullovers, wedding rings and crutches are also common among the nearly 4,000 items that people lose every year and which find their way into the lost-and-found office. Even glass eyes - minus their owners - make an appearance once in a while, officials say.

mg/sgb (dpa)