PLANNING FOR A MEMORABLE WEEKEND; NO SHORTAGE OF FESTIVAL OPTIONS FOR THE DE FACTO KICKOFF TO SUMMER.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

A solemn observance of the country's war dead?

Or the clarion call of summer, an opportune time to make a mad dash out of town and do something fun?

The meaning of Memorial Day certainly has blurred in recent years - perhaps since 1971, when Congress moved it from May 30 to the last Monday in May, thus watering down the holiday by affixing the word ``weekend'' to it.

But it might be possible to fuse the two points: The sacrifice of service men and women for more than 100 years has helped create a society in which people enjoy themselves nearly without constraint.

Particularly on the last weekend in May.

This year, there is no shortage of getaway opportunities for those who live in Los Angeles, and now is probably a good time to start planning. Beyond such obvious magnets as ocean, mountain, desert ... and the gaming tables of Las Vegas and Laughlin, there is a wide and somewhat quirky array of entertainment to be had at organized festivals in California.

Over those three days in May, depending on preference, travelers may revel in merengue, mules, jazz, beer, rodeo and squid, among other disparate delights.

Just try not to stampede through any military cemeteries on your way out of town.

Ethnic gorging

There are 31 permanent cottages, representing different countries, all clustered in a village in San Diego's Balboa Park. And on May 30, their representatives will be bustling over stoves and grills, preparing food from their homelands and hoping that your nose will guide you to their doors.

It's the 20th annual Ethnic Food Fair at the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages in the park. There is no admission charge to the village, which will be serving up this eclectic feast, along with various types of entertainment on a stage, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The cottages are not allowed to charge more than $4 per plate of food, said Louisa Lawson, who has been involved with the House of Pacific Relations for 17 years. ``To put it in a nutshell,'' she added, ``you can eat your way around the world for $20, if you want to eat that much. You can eat German sausage, English whatever.''

That last crack was delivered tongue-in-cheek: Lawson is first vice president of the House of England.

Spam-and-kidney pie, anyone?

Information: [phone] or (619) 0512.

Chalk art

It has progressed considerably since your childhood days of drawing hopscotch courts in front of the house.

Elaborate chalk drawings on concrete will be celebrated as fine art at the I Madonnari Street Painting Festival in front of the Santa Barbara Mission.

``The subject matter of the drawings ranges from classical religious imagery to original works,'' organizer Kathy Koury said of the free festival, which will be conducted all three days of Memorial Day weekend.

There will be a broad range of artistic talent, too - from children to accomplished professionals. The event, in its 13th year, is put on by the Children's Creative Project, a nonprofit education program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office.

Some 400 artists are expected, producing 150 to 200 drawings that will range in size from 4 by 6 feet to one 12-by-15-foot creation. Another 25,000 people will likely be on hand to observe the work and sample the cuisine and entertainment at a sprawling Italian market on the mission lawn.

Each evening at 6, a free concert will be held in the mission church, and, according to Koury, it will be as refined as the sidewalk art: opera, string quartet, choral ensemble.

Directions: 101 north, exit Mission Street, east to Laguna Street, left to the mission.

(If your Memorial Day plans can't accommodate this, be advised that another I Madonnari festival will be held April 24-25 in front of the San Luis Obispo Mission.)

Information: [phone].

Celebrating stubbornness

In Bishop, tucked into the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Mule Days have been popular since they were established in the late 1960s.

Some 50,000 people are expected this year for the three-day event, which will feature hundreds of mules competing in more than 100 events.

There will also be concerts, a western dance, a barbecue - and an all-mule-power parade; no motorized contraptions of any kind allowed.

Organizer Carolyn Moore said that one of the most popular events is the pack scramble.

Picture this: Fourteen pack teams, featuring six mules per team, assemble at the center of an arena. The packers remove all supplies, saddles and tack from their animals and stack it on the ground. Then the mules are shooed about the arena floor until they're a hopeless jumble. At a signal, the packers must find their six mules, herd them back to their supplies, and pack the animals. First team to finish wins.

Information: [phone].

Tentacle treats

This ocean creature may not look particularly appetizing, but give the cooks at the Great Monterey Squid Festival a chance to impress you with their inventiveness.

``There will be squid cooked 30 different ways,'' festival manager Bob Massaro said of the event, which will be held Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. ``It will be battered, fried, barbecued.'' Massaro paused, perhaps accustomed to not being persuasive on the point. ``There will be other kinds of food, too.''

The festival, in its 15th year, was launched to bring attention to the cephalopod mollusk, a major catch in Monterey Bay. Held at the Monterey Fairgrounds, it will also have a strong educational thrust with young visitors.

Graduate students from the Moss Landing Marine Lab, an arm of Stanford University, will present a ``touch tank'' for young guests. The grad students will dive for marine specimens each morning, present them in the tank during the day, then return them to the bay at the end of the day.

``The only thing the kids won't be able to touch, oddly enough, are squid,'' Massaro said, ``because they squirt ink.''

Speaking of which, the ultimate squid movie, ``20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,'' loosely based on the Jules Verne novel, was screened at the first few festivals, but it was ditched when some vendors complained that it was hurting their food sales.

Even the name, Massaro said, ``conjures up all kinds of things, from pleasant to squeamish. One of the most popular booths year after year is one that sells deep-fried squid heads. They call them heads, but they're actually tentacles. Fry them right up. Really delicious.''

Information: [phone].

Rope, throw, brand 'em

Calf roping, bull riding, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding and barrel racing will be among the events at the Frontier Days Rodeo in Temecula, north and inland of San Diego.

Cowboy poetry and western music will also be presented at the three-day weekend event.

``If it doesn't rain or snow, it's normally a good response,'' said John Sterling, general manager of the Temecula Town Association, which has been staging the rodeo for three years. ``Our bleachers hold 2,600, and they're pretty much full for each performance.''

The competition, a sanctioned event of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, will be held Saturday (2 and 7 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) at the Northwest Sports Complex near the corner of Winchester and Diaz roads. Matinee admission is priced at $8, the Saturday evening show at $10; children under 4 are free.

The cowboy poetry and western music will be presented Friday evening at the Musicians' Workshop in Temecula's Old Town district.

Information: [phone].

Blue notes

After Duke Ellington's band recorded ``Flamingo'' in the 1940s, it went on to sell 13 million copies. Herb Jeffries was the band's vocalist on that record, and he'll be one of the featured performers at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee over four days (May 28-31) of Memorial Day weekend.

The event celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, and it continues to be enormously popular. Roger Krum, director of the Sacramento Jazz Society, said this year's festival will feature 125 bands, some hailing from lands as distant as Europe, Asia and Australia. An estimated 100,000 fans will be on hand to hear them.

Performances will be held on 25 stages in five different areas of the city; a free shuttle bus will connect them.

The festival is not a competition. Jazz is simply presented as a celebration of the popular music form. In addition to Jeffries, the event will also feature John and Donald Mills of the Mills Brothers.

It will not, however, be offered in true purity. Swing dancing, because of its burgeoning popularly, will be a prominent part of the program, too.

Information: [phone].

Carnivale atmosphere

Choose your favorite Latino music: salsa, merengue, reggae, calypso, Brazilian, Cuban.

All will be available for tasting at Carnivale, a dreadfully belated Mardi Gras celebration for which San Francisco, as usual marching to a drummer only it can hear, makes no apology whatsoever. ``It's too cold in San Francisco (to celebrate Mardi Gras on schedule, 40 days before Easter); usually it's raining. So we do it Memorial Day weekend,'' said Patricia Aguayo, executive director of the Mission Economic Cultural Association, which puts on the event.

The May 30 festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary, will feature a parade, food, dancing (including a samba contest), and that wide variety of musical expressions.

``It's different than (the Mardi Gras in) New Orleans,'' Aguayo said, ``because it's more reflective of the community here. We are a community of Latinos from all over the world. This is very exotic. It gives people an opportunity to express themselves any way they wish. The costumes are just beautiful.''

The parade, which will start at 10 a.m., will thread from 24th and Bryant to 24th and Mission, and from there to Mission and 14th. A post-parade festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Harrison Street between 16th and 22nd.

Information: [phone].

Other California getaways

More than 50 of the state's microbrews will be available for tasting at the California Festival of Beers in Avila Beach, a few miles south of San Luis Obispo. The 13th annual event, which will also feature live music, will be held May 29 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Avila Beach Resort. [phone].

The Statewide Folk Dance Festival will be held May 28-31 at the Balboa Park Club in San Diego. It's kind of a convention for dancers from throughout California, but the agenda includes public performances. [phone].

Fine arts, crafts and entertainment will be included in the 17th annual Sierra Festival of the Arts in Grass Valley on May 30. [phone].

Races involving vintage cars will be part of the program at the Motorsport Festival in Visalia May 29-30. [phone].

A historic gold-mining town will come to life in Forbestown, northeast of Sacramento, on May 29. Docents - in costume - will give demonstrations on life in the 1850s and conduct museum tours. There will also be music and food. [phone].

More than 600 antique aircraft will be on display at the West Coast Antique Fly-In & Air Show in Watsonville on May 28-30. [phone].

CAPTION(S):

7 Photos

Photo: (1--6--Color) On Memorial Day weekend, the sidewalk art at Santa Barbara's I Madonnari Street Painting Festival, center, top left and top right, always draws a crowd; at the Great Monterey Squid Festival, above, it's obvious they don't spare the flame in the cooking process; at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, opposite left, live bands work out on 25 stages around town; cowboys hang on for all they're worth in the saddle bronc competition at the Frontier Days Rodeo in Temecula, opposite above.

(7) The Great Monterey Squid Festival over Memorial Day weekend offers the ocean fare cooked 30 different ways, including batttered and barbecued.