While Wachusett Mountain's perhaps best known for its catchy "Wa-Wa-Wa-chusett" jingle enticing snow bunnies and rabbits of all ages to its winter wonderland, it's slowly been building a second reputation as a destination for memorable non-snow related activities as well. The months ahead will see it host its now annual KidsFest, Wachusett Music Festival, AppleFest, and Autumn Wine Celebration.

"It creates an opportunity for us to expose the mountain with lots of activities as a real fun friendly family place to be on a multi-season basis," says Wachusett Mountain Marketing Director Tom Meyers says. "Throughout the fall too, it really highlights that fact that winter is just around the corner."

Meyers may be one of the few people in Central Massachusetts whose voice perks up at the thought of the snow season; his tone almost makes you look forward to it as well. "It's when people come to our big equipment sales and come up to get their season passes so we build up momentum as we head into the winter," he says.

One of the biggest opportunities Wachusett has to introduce themselves to a new audience is its annual KidsFest, which takes place on Sept. 23 and 24 from noon to 5 p.m. "We try to create a real fun atmosphere for the kids and the families," Meyers says. "We focus on the different elements. Certainly the entertainment is a big part of it. We have a lot of fun little shows with magic, animals, and an acrobatic bike team."

The Northeast Trickstars bill themselves as one of the country's oldest performing bicycle stunt teams. "They're a great show," Meyers says. "They're really entertaining and the acrobatic maneuvers they do on their bikes. They're popular and they've been coming for many years and they're just as popular, if not more now, as they have ever been. Now, with the popularity of some of those extreme sports, people really enjoy watching them."

Their show is broken down into sections. The first involves flatland riding, which is intended to show kids you don't need to make like Evel Knieval jumping off of ramps or edges of buildings to enjoy non-traditional biking; it's traditionally been followed a request for a couple of young volunteers from the crowd to lie down while a Trickstar jumps over them.

At this point, things get a bit wilder as the fine art of "lip riding" is demonstrated utilizing the edge of a ramp before the real show takes place - tailwhips, backflips, and supermans over a large portable box by some of the US's best jumpers. While there are a lot of oohs, ahhs and perceived dangers, the Tricksters - who perform both days - are not looking to turn your kids into the next generation of juvenile delinquents scraping away the edges of park benches and town monuments. They present a strong message on the importance of bicycle safety and living a drug-free lifestyle.

Another major event is at this year's KidsFest is the "KidStar '06" talent contest that Wachusett is presenting along with WXLO, Ovation Model, and Songboost: An Artist Opportunity Company to find Central New England's top singers, dancer, and models between the ages of six and 16 who'll compete for recording sessions and talent school scholarships. Broken down into two age groups - 6 to 11 and 12 to 16, auditions for the finals, which takes place at KidsFest on Saturday, Sept. 23, will take place on Sept. 9 at Greendale Mall in Worcester, on Sept. 10 at the Auburn Mall, and on Sept. 17 at the Mall at Whitney Field in Leominster. Registration forms are available wxlo.com.

Entertainment will also be provided by local dance troupes and martial arts studios as well as "Dance Authority," who are a girl band for kids. "We try to big in a lot of walk-around talent like the clowns and jugglers - people who can entertain the families throughout the grounds," Meyers says. For the adults - and the kids too - the biggest attraction may be the variety of booths offering free product sampling and demonstrations courtesy of Price Chopper. "People love the opportunity to get things for free and it also gives vendors an opportunity to expose their products to our customers. It's the perfect opportunity for everyone," Meyers says.

Each year, Wachusett tries to have one extra special activity at KidsFest. This year, it's a tethered hot air balloon ride, weather permitting. Kids can also enjoy the traditional fair activities - the inflatables, the balloon bouncing, and the games. "It creates a fun almost a town fair kind of atmosphere but it's all oriented toward the kids."

If you get hungry, the Wachusett staff will be cooking up some tasty barbecue food. And, as you'd expect, as the big weekend nears, everyone's carefully watching the weather forecast. "If the weather's good, the crowd's around 3000 or more people per day," Meyers says. "It very much depends on the weather. We try to have weatherproof activities so we have a lot of stuff going on indoors as well."

KidsFest is only one of a number of events taking place this fall at Wachusett Mountain; they commence with a big Labor Day ski equipment sale and wind up with a big autumn wine celebration on Nov. 4.

The two-day Wachusett Music Festival, which takes place on Sept. 9 and 10 has slowly built itself up to become an important event on the region's entertainment calendar.

"Typically, Saturday has been more local and regional rock 'n' roll performers," Meyers says. This year's rock lineup features The Fools (of "Psycho Chicken" and "A Night for Beautiful Girls" fame), Clutch Grabwell, winner of numerous Worcester area music awards, and The Howl, who've spent the summer opening for the likes of the Allman Brothers, George Thorogood, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Robert Randolph, and the North Mississippi Allstars, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Composed of guitarist Troy Gonyea, bassist Jeff Berg, and drummer George Berthiaume, they seem to be nearing national breakout status so catch them now.

The following day, Elvin Bishop, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, Shemekia Copeland, and Jon Short - voted Worcester's top blues act twice in 2006, take center stage.

Don't feel the blues if the weather turns nasty. "The stage is all covered," Meyers says. "It's a rain or shine event." But Wachusett picked the first weekend after Labor Day because rarely is the weather not spectacular. "It's a good time for a music fest that's outside. The longer you go, you always play Mother Nature so we want to work around her the best that we can."

Wachusett's 23rd Annual AppleFest takes place the weekends of Oct. 21 and 22 and 28 and 29, featuring over 70 crafters, a farmer's market, and kids activities. "Typically it's our most popular fall event," Meyers says. "People love getting out and seeing the foliage, the craft show and the pie-eating contest. It's just a real celebration of fall."

As a bonus to attending any of these events, you can also check out the foliage from one of the best views in region - while traveling up and down Wachusett Mountain on its SkyRide; just keep in mind there's a separate charge for the experience you'll be telling people about for weeks afterwards.

And, if you need to be reminded, the main activities at Wachusett Mountain remains snow-oriented, be it the traditional skiing or more modern snowboarding. Diehards usually look at the Columbus Day Weekend Ski & Snowboard Sale and Swap the same way a baseball fans does the first day of Spring Training.

"It's a time when people are getting geared up for the winter so they tend to want to come up and get their equipment updated," says Meyers. For some, it's a chance to upgrade their old equipment; for others, they have to have the latest equipment in a market that introduces new innovations every year. "The biggest change is the advent of shaped skis," Meyers says. "That's been several years now but it's certainly revolutionized skiing in terms of the ease of people to be able to turn."

Another revolution is the growing popularity of snowboarding, though Wachusett didn't see an increased interest in the sport after the Flying Tomato won gold at this year's Winter Olympic Games - they had already cornered most of the region's market.

"Wachusett's a popular snowboarding area anyway in an area close to Worcester and Boston," says Meyers. "A lot of the kids enjoy coming up here."

Season ticket passes for the winter are already on sale; the first (and best) deals of the season on three levels of access runs through Sept. 14. "It's always the time to be checking out the best deals because if you get in early, that's when you get the best deals," Meyers says.

The Wachusett.com website has the latest information and updates on season pass information as well as all the events mentioned in this article.