On Saturday, Mexican on the Run food truck owner Jimmy Longoria asked his two kids, “Do you want to go to the outside market?”

By about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, the three Phoenix residents sat on the curb at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market, snacking on tacos, pizza and doughnuts while cars rumbled on the Jones Falls Expressway overhead. After finishing his pizza, Longoria’s 3-year-old son ran off to join a band, beating a watermelon-shaped drum at a stand nearby. Later, the kids might get their portraits drawn or try some Hula-Hooping. A day to remember, for sure, but the best part for Longoria’s wolf-ear-sporting 5-year-old daughter was clear: “Doughnuts,” she said between mouthfuls.

Though Longoria doesn’t sell food at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market, he supports his fellow business owners whenever he can. “I don’t work on Sundays, but I come here,” he said.

Some shoppers come for the people-watching, bringing wagons and camping chairs to sit and take in the scenes. Others come for the music and hubbub. For Lisa Dunlap, who arrives at the market right when it opens at 7 a.m. to buy greens by the bushel, “this is my quiet time.”

The Baltimore Farmers’ Market returned Sunday, kicking off its 48th season after months of uncertainty about who would be running it. Its longtime organizer, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts, lost its contract with the city last year, and a quest began to find a replacement. As the weeks counted down to this year’s farmers market and the city had yet to announce a new host, some vendors began to wonder whether the market would even be happening.

“The silence was a little worrisome,” said Jasmine Norton of The Urban Oyster, tending to a stainless steel grill with dozens of oysters roasting on top. Norton, a semifinalist for this year’s James Beard Awards, started her business at the farmers market eight years ago. “Our staples were developed in this atmosphere,” she said, and many of her customers still know her from the stand even as she’s opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Hampden.

But business owners and farmers were relieved when city officials informed them that BOPA would again be hosting the market. “The market itself just meant too much to people for them to not come together and figure it out,” said chef Amber Croom, who sells cakes and other treats under the JFX through her own shop, And 4 Dessert, along with beignets made with her business partner, Yassmeen Haskins. Setup early Sunday morning “was seamless,” Croom said.

This year’s market started a week later than usual and won’t take place over Memorial Day weekend because Artscape is earlier than ever and has relocated downtown. “At least it happened,” though, said Pam Martin, owner of Latte’Da Coffee. The stand was situated at a crosswind of aromas: kettle corn from the north, pit beef smoke from the south. “It’s good to be back.”

Despite an unseasonably chilly April morning, things seemed to be operating as usual Sunday. “Much like spring, we’re coming out of the frost and warming up to a full bloom,” said Delaney Cate, events and market manager for BOPA, who’d been up since 2 a.m. to run through her long opening day checklist. (Mercy hospital parking lot? Open. Trash? Cleaned up.) “It’s kind of like putting on a party in a way,” she said. “You want to make sure your house is clean.”

Cate put the approximate number of weekly vendors for this year at 120, slightly lower than last year’s. She said economic worries, moreso than concerns about the market’s operations, led some artisans and food vendors to skip this year. Last year’s market saw a boom in the number of new vegan vendors, she said. This year’s market includes some local alcohol sellers, including M8 Beer and Peabody Heights Brewery, which is taking over a spot previously occupied by Charm City Meadworks.

“We’ve been trying to get in for a while,” said Julie Petersen of Peabody Heights. In coming weeks, the market stand will begin selling canned mead made through its partnership with Charm City Meadworks, which recently closed its own taproom. She stood next to Chef Dad Pot Pies, another new arrival to the market.

Genevieve L. Stein-O’Brien came to the market with her husband and two children, ages 1 and 5. “We’re die-hards,” she said while her toddler, bundled in a wagon, munched mini doughnuts. Still, she missed seeing businesses like Ekiben and Blacksauce, which used to be regulars but have since stopped operating stands. Instead, she noticed what seemed to be more businesses selling clothing.

The family stood near a stand from Reid’s Orchard & Winery, based in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The company has been coming to the farmers’ market since it opened almost 50 years ago. Employee Philip D. Keating said “we just weren’t really that concerned” about whether the market would kick off in April as usual.

“Because every new day starts, the sun’s gonna rise no matter what.”