They were singing the blues Saturday above the shores of Cressy’s Beach at Gloucester’s Stage Fort Park.

In fact, they were dancing to and cheering the blues in full voice, too.

The occasion was Saturday’s Second Gloucester Blues Festival, which drew an estimated 1,300 music lovers – some 40 percent more than the number that turned out for the inaugural festival last year.

“We’ve already started thinking and talking about next year,” said co-founder Bob Hastings, the former Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce head who launched the festival last year in partnership with Maine-based blues aficionado and promoter Paul Benjamin.

The festival featured seven regional and national blues acts, including headliners Ana Popovic and Tommy Castro; it also offered patrons the chance to check out a total of 18 food, clothing and other vendors.

“It was everything we wanted it to be,” Hastings said Sunday. “We were really happy, and if I had one person I had to have 50 — people I didn’t even know — come up and thank us for bringing it to Gloucester. It was just great.”