The debate was hot when downtown merchants decided last year to move Chefs Market from Friday to Thursday nights. This year, there is no debate.

The signature summer event in downtown Napa with food, music and activities was a success last year and will continue on Thursday evenings.

Visitors to the Chefs Market this summer will find more children’s activities, not one but two large stages for live bands, cooking demonstrations with regular wine pairings and an expanded farmers market.

The 2008 Thursday night switch worked, said Craig Smith, executive director of the Napa Downtown Association.

“The goal was to go back to being a strong family event and not be as much of a street party as it had been. And that was successful,” he said.

The Thursday night market brought out more families, Smith said. “We noticed a lot more strollers had returned,” he said, which led market organizers to expand the kid’s zone on Coombs Street.

This summer, families will find a “beefed up” children’s area with its own stage featuring local entertainer “Miss Julie,” a climbing wall, jump houses, hands-on play areas and other attractions.

“I’m hoping that whole block will be filled with kids activities,” said Julie Morales of the downtown association.

Returning on an elevated stage at Coombs Plaza, the Chefs Demos will feature food, dessert and wine pairings.

The market will be held on First Street between Franklin and Main streets, Smith said. Like last year, and unlike in years past, the market will not venture into the Town Center space.

“We’d love to have the Town Center involved, but if it doesn’t work for them then there’s no point in doing it. We were able to get more stuff on a smaller footprint last year and it worked out real well,” Smith said.

Market goers may notice fewer wineries offering samples at the event.

“Last year, we had eight tasting rooms,” with booths on First Street, Morales said. It turned out to be overkill. “This year, we’ll have only four tasting rooms on the street, plus the featured winery with the chefs demo,” she said. Fewer tasting stations should drive more business to each vendor, she said. “We want to make it worthwhile for the tasting rooms” to participate, Morales said.

To avoid consumer confusion, market vendors will remain in the same spots every week during the 11-week run.

Music lovers will enjoy four acts each week on two big stages and two smaller areas. The main stage will be at Dwight Murray Plaza, with a second big stage at First and Randolph streets, Smith said.

Morales said she also hopes to add more stalls for farmers selling produce.

Even with a shorter market in 2008, Smith said beer and wine sales were down only 10 percent compared to 2007. Overall, Chefs Market sales in 2008 were down 25 percent, he said, but remained steady throughout the entire Thursday night market run. When the market was on Friday nights, sales tailed off toward the end of the run.

Although market organizers face challenges finding sponsors in a tough economy, the market was able to increase its budget from $132,000 in 2008 to $175,000 in 2009, Smith said.

Matt Mermod of downtown restaurant Bleaux Magnolia was pleased with the Thursday night event. “I thought it went really good last year, and compared to other years, it was definitely a better turnout,” he said. Mermod said he liked the sheltered area of Coombs Plaza for cooking demonstrations. “I think it’s a little more isolated as far as the wind. That helps out a lot with the microphones.”

Mermod already is making plans for the 2009 market. “I’m bringing out a barbecue and spit this year. I’ll be doing fresh-cooked meat and grilled stuff. We’re also going to have a crawfish boil each week.”

Last year was the first Chefs Market for Oxbow Public Market merchant Adriana Lopez Vermut of Pica Pica Maize Kitchen.

She participated as a food vendor for all 11 weeks last year. Sales from the Thursday night market represented an additional day of the week, in terms of revenue, Lopez Vermut said.

“It was family oriented. It was a really nice atmosphere. We will definitely be there this year again,” she said.

Pica Pica did so well at the Chefs Market, it inspired the restaurant to create a new mobile service called Pica Pica on Wheels, Lopez Vermut said. The restaurant now offers food service for concerts and other outdoor events.

Cole’s Chop House on Main Street had borne the brunt of some of the Friday night troublemakers. Chefs Market 2008 “was a much improved Chefs Market,” owner Greg Cole said. “The turnout was smaller but we wanted it smaller. I was really pleased with the change.”

“I think the people that went enjoyed it more,” Cole said. The Thursday night event, “is a smaller, friendlier Chefs Market and more reminiscent of how it was in the beginning.”

“It became more of a Chefs Market again, with produce and kids.”