Get Questions Right and You Win a Weekend in--Fremont?

FREMONT, Calif. —  What California city is named for a U.S. Army general? What city is the fourth-largest in the San Francisco Bay area? What city has the fifth-largest land mass in the state?

If you answered Fremont to those queries, you could be a winner in a contest one woman suggests could attract tourists to the city, now best known as the home of an automobile plant pumping out cars made jointly by General Motors and Toyota.

The idea is the brainchild of Marilyn Black, chairwoman of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce Visitors Bureau, who has declined to discuss the matter with reporters.

“I answered all three questions right,” said City Councilman Bill Ball, but he admitted he had to guess at the first. Gen. John C. Fremont, known as “The Pathfinder,” has been credited with exploring great areas of the West.

If the plan is approved, as many as three people would be picked from those who answered correctly and treated to a weekend in Fremont.

They would stay in a local hotel, get exclusive tours of a local winery and Mission San Jose and be guests of the Visitors Bureau at the city’s anniversary ball on Feb. 1 at a local country club.

However, not everyone is taking the game seriously. One official, who declined to permit use of his name, asked the San Jose Mercury News the obvious question: “Is second prize two weeks in Fremont?”