What do fresh bread, fresh fish and hot tamales have in common?

It may sound like the set-up to a joke, but Stevi Stoesz, director of business development at the Indianapolis City Market, is serious. She’s working on bringing all three — and then some — to the City Market.

Stoesz, who returned to the City Market in December after leaving in 2000, said recently that she and the market’s new executive director Jim Reilly, also a returnee, will do what it takes to make the market a success. Just hoping it will happen isn’t going to cut it, she said.

“We’ve got to get beyond that hopeful point,” Stoesz said.

To that end, Stoesz has been meeting with potential market vendors, including owners of The Bread Ladies, a Greenfield bakery and cafe; Jonah’s Market, a Fishers seafood, meat and wine shop; and El Sol de Tala, a Near-Eastside Mexican restaurant.

But new tenants will have to do more than just sell lunch, Stoesz said. They’ll have to be open in the evening, and they’ll have to have retail.

“It’s got to be more than a food court,” Stoesz said. “We want to be a true public market.”

When asked whether the City Market could draw shoppers beyond lunchtime, Stoesz was adamant.

“I think people are longing to do that,” she said. “They want their public market back.”

They certainly seem to like the Wednesday farmers market. The popular market, which begins May 6, includes 50 vendors at the height of the season.

It typically wraps up in October. But this year, said Stoesz, the farmers market will move indoors and continue year-round.

“It’s really going to happen,” said Stoesz, who has 17 vendors committed to stay on through next winter, the same number on board when she launched the outdoor market in 1996.

The farmers market will continue outdoors as long as possible, she said, then will move inside to the first floor of the City Market’s east wing. The only tenant currently there, she said, is Enzo Pizza.

Upstairs in the east wing, she said, expect to see fitness programming offered in conjunction with the YMCA at the Athenaeum. The site is too noisy for yoga, Stoesz admitted, but she’s considering other classes.

“Maybe kickboxing,” she said.