Malgraŭ la malfrua komenco, la publiko atendis apud la budoj.

Malgraŭ means despite or in spite of.

It is a preposition, so it introduces a noun phrase: malgraŭ la malfrua komenco = despite the late start

In Esperanto, prepositions normally take the basic noun form, not the accusative, unless there is some separate reason for using -n. So komenco stays komenco, not komencon.

Because malfrua is an adjective, and it describes the noun komenco.

• malfrua = late as an adjective
• malfrue = late as an adverb

Since komenco is a noun and we are describing what kind of start it was, Esperanto uses the adjective form:

• malfrua komenco = a late start

If you used malfrue, it would be modifying a verb or another adjective, not the noun komenco.

It is made from several familiar Esperanto pieces:

• fru- = early
• mal- = the opposite
• -a = adjective ending

So:

• frua = early
• malfrua = late

This is a very common Esperanto pattern: use mal- to form the opposite of a word.

Because publiko is a collective noun, like the audience or the public in English.

It refers to a group as one whole:

• la publiko atendis = the audience waited

Even though many individuals are involved, the noun itself is singular, so the verb is singular too. If you wanted to emphasize individual people, you could use something like la homoj or la ĉeestantoj, but la publiko is perfectly normal.

The ending -is marks the past tense in Esperanto.

So:

• atendas = waits / is waiting
• atendis = waited / was waiting
• atendos = will wait

The verb stem is atend-, meaning wait or expect, and -is tells you the action happened in the past.

Apud means beside, next to, or by.

So:

• apud la budoj = beside the stalls/booths

It usually suggests physical nearness, often right next to something.

This is a bit different from:

• ĉe = at, by, in the vicinity of
• proksime de = near, close to

So apud is often a little more specific than proksime de. It gives the sense that the public was waiting right by the booths.

Because budoj is the object of the preposition apud, not the direct object of the verb.

• -j marks plural
• -n marks the accusative, usually for direct objects or motion toward something

Here:

• apud la budoj = beside the booths

Since apud already shows the relationship, the noun does not need -n. So budoj is correct.

La is the definite article, meaning the.

It appears here because the sentence is talking about specific, identifiable things:

• la malfrua komenco = the late start
• la publiko = the audience / the public
• la budoj = the booths/stalls

Esperanto has only one article, la. It does not change for gender, number, or case.

It is natural and helpful here because malgraŭ la malfrua komenco is an introductory prepositional phrase.

The comma separates that introductory element from the main clause:

• Malgraŭ la malfrua komenco, la publiko atendis apud la budoj.

In Esperanto, punctuation is somewhat flexible, but this comma makes the sentence easier to read.

Yes. Esperanto word order is fairly flexible because the endings carry a lot of grammatical information.

For example, you could say:

• La publiko atendis apud la budoj malgraŭ la malfrua komenco.

That would still be understandable. However, the original order sounds natural because it foregrounds the contrast: Despite the late start, ...

So the given version is probably the best choice stylistically.