ADVERTISING / MARKETING : Never Mind Calgary or Even Seoul--These Games Were Held in Anaheim

It is not exactly the Olympics, but Disneyland just concluded its own version of the Games--the State Fair Games II, that is.

In connection with its current seasonal promotion--State Fair--Anaheim’s Magic Kingdom held a three-day promotional event with frog-jumping contests, canoe races, a pie-eating contest, a bucket brigade and a flipper-mask relay.

Not exactly Seoul, you say? No, but athletes did get to flex and show off their prowess--er, sort of.

Disneyland hosted the competitions for 21 TV stations from across the country, which were invited to compete for a total of $50,000, to be donated to the charities of their choice.

Where the promotion comes in is that most of the stations selected a hometown consumer and a home-grown celebrity to be on the four-person teams--along with two TV station personnel, of course.

So KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, for instance, brought Stephanie Edwards and young actor Ernie Reyes--along with a viewer and one other member of station personnel. One station brought Miss Hawaii, and there were almost enough pro athletes to form an entire team.

“It was like a giant picnic--and everybody wins,” said Bob Roth, park spokesman. “We get an awful lot of exposure out of it, no question. The stations get good PR, and they raise money for local charities.”

As it turned out, the station to bet on was Tucson’s KOLD, which took home the $13,000 top prize. The money will go to Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Tucson.

And KHJ-TV? For the second year in a row, “they were right near the bottom,” Roth said. As a matter of fact, KHJ placed 21st out of 21.