Gary Riggleman is one of almost a dozen vendors returning to the Great Falls Farmers Market as it reopens for its second year. "We had a real good year with it last year and we thought we’d have as good a year this year, or better," he said.

His Bigg Riggs Farm will be adding some new items to its selection this year, such as microgreens, apple pie filling, ramp vinegar, peach-berry jam and, occasionally, mushrooms, he said. Bigg Riggs offers a variety of produce, as well as homemade prepared foods like condiments and bloody Mary mix.

One of the new additions to the market as it opened on Saturday, the first hot day of the year, was the Vienna-based Ole Pioneer’s Kitchen, which specializes in homemade meat products. "This is going to be a nice, nice market," said Grace Brock, who owns the business. As the market came to a close, she said she’d had plenty of traffic and was almost sold out of pasta and dinner sausages. At the next market, she plans to add Argentine salchichas to her menu of about 10 meats.

Though she is based nearby, Brock came to the market the long way. A customer in Baltimore has a sister who is friends with Old Brogue owner Mike Kearney, who took over the market when it moved to the Great Falls Village Centre last year. "They came over and tried my food and they decided it’s great and they need to have it in their farmers market, and they invited me," she said.

Dahmane Benarbane, owner of the Cenreville-based Baguette Republic, said it was "the kindness of people and the destination client" that brought him back for a second year at the market. "We are not a convenience store. We are local guys who believe in food as an identity and that it should be made every night, so we made all this last night," he said, indicating the breads, pastries, muffins and other baked goods loading his stand. "We are like grandmas, but we cannot replace them."

Benarbane said local markets were in line with his old-fashioned approach to food and business. "This is the roots—the town market. That’s the way, and it’s the best way for people to talk to each other and see each other and walk," he said. "We need the people to take over the neighborhood."