WINCHENDON — Residents can expect to see more than the usual number of motorcycles on area roads this weekend as the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association holds its 40th annual Fall Round-Up.

Those attending the entire event, which runs from Thursday through Sunday morning, will be spending three nights camping at the Winchendon Rod & Gun Club. The cost is $40 per person or $20 for a Saturday day pass. Gates open at 9 a.m. Thursday and the event wraps up at 11 a.m. Sunday.

“This is open to the general public,” said Massachusetts Motorcycle Association board member Kevin Griffin, “motorcyclist or not. On the nights that we’re having live entertainment, if you’re not a motorcyclist, you can come and just pay a cover charge ($10) to see the bands.

“It’s been at Winchendon for a number of years,” Griffin said of the venue. “It did move away to Heath for a few years, but Winchendon has been our go-to for decades, really.”

Like most events, Griffin said the pandemic certainly had an impact on attendance.

“The COVID year was tough,” he said. “You couldn’t really do much of anything. We had a lot of people who didn’t attend; they were either sick or were concerned. They were still in lockdown mode, I guess. But we’re expecting a pretty good crowd this year. Of course, it’s always weather dependent. We’ll likely see somewhere in the 150 to 200 range. The majority of them do come and camp out.”

Griffin explained the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association is an advocacy group that tries to serve motorcyclists from across a broad spectrum, “from the club level to the independent rider.”

“Recently, the adventure bikes have become more of a thing,” he said. “It runs the gamut of motorcyclists. We have had clubs attend but, in my experience, everyone behaves themselves and has a good time. They enjoy the outdoors and the entertainment and participate in the games.”

Griffin said a series of motorcycle games — more like skill contests — are typically run on Saturday afternoon. Among them, he said, is the slow race, “which is exactly the opposite of a fast race, where the last one across the finish line wins. You can imagine trying to balance a full-size motorcycle barely rolling along, but some people are very good at it.”

He also described a contest where motorcyclists “ride the rail,” in which a long two-by-four is laid down on the ground and the rider must travel the length of the board without the motorcycle’s tires slipping off either side.

Another one of the competitions is the barrel roll, which employs an old beer keg. “The idea is to keep pushing that with your front wheel and, of course, the first one across wins that one,” he said.

One skill test requires the participation of a passenger.

“Your passenger will have a handful of golf balls or tennis balls; you ride down a line of traffic cones and they have to put the ball on top of each cone, turn around, come back, and take the ball off each cone without dropping any,” Griffin said. “So, it’s pretty creative stuff and it’s a lot of fun.”

Musical entertainment for the weekend includes Ron Jones on Thursday night, Point the Finger on Friday and Mad Hatter on Saturday.

Griffin did note that, while children sometimes do attend, the event is geared toward an adult audience.

A big part of the weekend, he said, is a raffle for a new four-wheeler.

“We’ve run raffles, typically for motorcycles, for the last 30 years or so,” Griffin said. “The winning ticket will be drawn Saturday afternoon.”

The prize of a CFMOTO ATV comes from Monty’s Motorsports of Westfield. Tickets are $10 and Griffin said some of the 1,800 raffle tickets that were printed should still be available at the roundup.

The Massachusetts Motorcycle Association, Griffin explained, was founded in 1975. The issue that prompted the formation of the group, he said, was that of mandatory helmet laws. It was seen as an issue of freedom of choice.

“But we’ve expanded far beyond that now,” he said. “The idea is the right to be able to choose what you want to ride, frankly.”

“We’re heavily into advocating for safety,” he added. “We promote rider education. We produce safety signs; there’s a motorcycle safety period every spring when we try to distribute our signs, ‘Watch for motorcycles.’”

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