WENDELL - The gaggle of cars in front of half a dozen homes around town on Saturday were a dead giveaway that the 2011 Candlelight Home Tour was drawing another solid crowd.

Organizers haven’t tallied a final count for the number of folks who took the third annual tour this year, but they say response from homeowners and visitors alike was better than they had hoped for.

“We had a lot of people stop back at the old post office after they had taken part of the tour and they said the people they met were really warm and inviting,” organizer Jenny Melton said.

Melton and other members of the Wendell Historical Society sponsor the event as a fundraiser, but Melton says the tour is also an opportunity to show off the community.

“We thought they enjoyed hanging out and how pretty the town was,” Melton said.

This year’s tour included a number of new stops, such as the home of Mike Unruh and Nora Cambiere on Wendell Boulevard, Laura Evans on Hollybrook Street and the Whitley home on Selma Road as well as Sunnyside, the former home of Wendell’s most historic figure R.B. Whitley, which is now the home of John and Beth Narron.

Other homes have been on the tour in years past, but Melton said several homeowners have completed a lot of work on their homes this year and took pride in the new look of their homes.

“I think the homeowners were really actively involved in this year’s event.