On the opening day of last year’s Astoria Sunday Market, I was given a task. The Astorian’s photographer was away for the weekend and the newspaper was looking for an image or two to mark the moment. I picked up a friend, we walked down to 12th and Duane streets and made our way toward the riverfront.

At the market, there were potted calla lilies from a flower farm, guitars made from old cigar boxes, a band playing in the Wells Fargo parking lot and some cedar sculptures that took up the pavement. I ordered a few too many pupusas from a Salvadorian food truck (delicious, but I thought they were smaller), said hello to some friends walking by and looked around for the right frame.

Cue the entrance of a baby goat in a bucket hat and yellow rain jacket.

Turns out Poptart was a Sunday Market regular, as was vendor and goat walker Mary Altieri. Their market rounds were being broadcast via livestream. I had found a photo.

This Sunday, the market will ring its opening bell for the season at 10 a.m. before hundreds of vendors open up shop through the afternoon, backed by live music from local band Brownsmead Flats. Offered are stands of local produce, seasonal berries, dried herbs and artwork, a fitting, eclectic mix of Astoria.

The market season runs, rain or shine, through Oct. 8. It joins the Ilwaco Saturday Market, across the Columbia River, which opened May 6. Markets in Cannon Beach, Seaside, Long Beach and Clatskanie are set to start in the coming weeks.