NEWTON — Organizers of Saturday’s Loose Caboose Festival in downtown Newton said the festival has far exceeded their expectations in its three years, and they believe it is a sign of good things to come.

“This year’s event has been wonderful,” said Angie Burks, executive director of the Newton Chamber of Commerce. “We had a good crowd, and the vendor turnout was excellent.”

Burks said 130 vendors came out to sell their wares at the daylong festival. And she estimated Saturday’s crowd beat last year’s 2,500 people by at least a few hundred.

She said the festival began three years ago as a way to promote Newton and to draw people to the town. She said there is a lot going on in downtown Newton, with new businesses coming to the area and special events planned throughout the spring and summer.

This year, a motorcycle show was added to the festival, and at least 75 antique cars and trucks were on display. Burks said 108 dogs were entered into the dog show sponsored by the 2 Pawz Up Dog Club, which was followed by a pet parade.

The festival, which takes up the middle of town with Main and Church streets closed off, started at 7 a.m. with a rummage sale in the parking lot of Newton’s Depot. The festival was scheduled to end at 8 p.m.

Coordinators of the event were Donna Pace and Leanne McGee.

Another addition to the festival this year was a Backyard Barbecue Cook-Off. It was scheduled as a forerunner of next year’s Loose Caboose Festival, which will feature a Memphis in May-sanctioned barbecue contest.

Ashaki McCoy, 30, and her friend Teeneesha Chapman, 11, both of Newton, went to the event on Saturday to shop and eat funnel cakes.

“We come every year,” McCoy said. “We just came to see what they had for sale.”

McCoy, a dispatcher for the Newton County Sheriff’s Department, said the weather for this year’s festival was perfect. Temperatures were in the high 70s on Saturday afternoon, and festival-goers had plenty of sunshine to soak up as they walked the streets of downtown Newton.

Teeneesha, who is a sixth-grader at Pilate Middle School, said she might buy a bracelet — but only after she bought a frozen lemonade from one of the vendors.