The Tamworth Great Escape Expo, the city's first, is already one of the biggest in the state.

But local stallholder Geoff Parker at Gone Glamping said there's room to grow yet.

"It's a mini-AgQuip I've been calling it, this is a mini-AgQuip for Tamworth and it's a great thing. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of locals [checking out the stalls]," he said.

"People are having interaction face to face again. What they've set up here today is phenomenal, I can't talk about and praise this as much as I can."

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He said the event was busier than he expected, and hoped Sunday crowds would match Saturdays, given the number of locals spending the day at sporting events.

The expo has inherent growth potential because Tamworth loves the outdoors, he said.

"Most country people like the country otherwise we wouldn't be in the country. We've put up with drought, we've put up with flood, we've put up with fires. What else can we put up with? Okay tourism, let's bring everyone to town, why not!" he said.

"It's a great event and it has a lot more potential."

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Mr Parker took over Gone Glamping with travel agent Chris Watson in January. The company rents access to enormous glamourous camping tents - big enough to fit two queen beds, he said - for events.

But while many stalls were local, some came from far afield.

Zoe Van Mill of Flat Out International came all the way from Port Macquarie to sell their more efficient hose and reel system to supply caravanners drinking water and sewage.

"It's not even midday and we're flat out. Already the boxes [of goods] are half height and it's like - that's interesting maybe we didn't pack enough. That's a good situation to be in," she said.

They carted 30 bundles worth of product from the coast, and might return with zero.

"That would be a pretty big for us to sell something like that," she said.

"I think we'll be selling posted items by the end, that would be really good. I hope we get to that."

Vivian Stockman has run Tamworth and North West Caravan Hire for two years, renting caravans to families who can't or won't pay the enormous upfront capital price.

Big expo events can often be their best form of advertising, he said.

ACM Rural Events Group Manager Kate Nugent said 80 per cent of exhibitors either from the New England region or from elsewhere in NSW.

She said organisers need all the local support they can get to make the event a success.

"It's really exciting, but been a great deal of hard work. We're really saying please, please take an opportunity to come and support a local event," she said.

The Great Escape Expo runs on the weekend of Saturday May 1 and Sunday May 2.

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