Memorial Day rites will combine a spring festival with honor for war dead.

In Hawthorne, a new Veterans Memorial will be dedicated.

In Rancho Palos Verdes, a sky diver will unfurl an American flag as he falls toward the ground.

Hermosa Beach will throw a giant beach arts and crafts fair, complete with international food and entertainment.

Elsewhere, there will be speechmaking, wreath laying and other patriotic observances.

It’s Memorial Day Weekend, and the South Bay will combine the long-established tradition of honoring American war dead with outdoor enjoyment of the sunny days of late spring.

Once known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day--which will be observed Monday--has roots in the 1860s custom of placing flowers on the graves of Civil War dead. After World War I, the day was set aside to honor the dead of all American wars, as well as their families.

“We try to remember everybody who lost lives,” said Sherry Boudreau, senior vice-commander of Hawthorne Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2075. “It’s to let them know they’re not forgotten.”

Boudreau will join members of other veterans groups in the city in dedicating a permanent veterans memorial during ceremonies at 11 a.m. at the Hawthorne Memorial Center, El Segundo Boulevard at Prairie Avenue.

Construction of the circular stone memorial--which honors dead and living veterans of all American military services--climaxed six years of fund raising spearheaded by the Hawthorne Veterans Council. The group raised nearly $60,000 for the monument, and the city donated the site.

The Hawthorne ceremony, which will include music by the Hawthorne High School Band and the New Sounds of Hawthorne, will be followed by a buffet at the VFW Post, 4563 W. 131st St.

The most spectacular Memorial Day tribute to the war dead will be staged at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, where World War II fighter planes will fly overhead and two sky divers will plummet to earth, one of them displaying an American flag as he falls.

The Green Hills program at 10 a.m. will also feature several color guards, a band, vocalists and television weatherman Dr. George Fischbeck as master of ceremonies. The memorial park is at 27501 S. Western Ave.

“We always try to make it a show as much as anything, not forgetting that we’re here to remember everyone who died as a result of a war,” said Steven A. Espolt, the park’s Memorial Day chairman. He said that with the patriotic feelings engendered by the Persian Gulf War, the park is expecting 3,000 people--the biggest crowd in the event’s six-year history.

Crowds are expected to be much larger at the biannual Fiesta de las Artes, where more than 100,000 people are expected to turn out for the three-day party in downtown Hermosa Beach.

“It’s a fun-filled day at the beach,” said B. J. Conte, who coordinates the fiesta for the Chamber of Commerce.

Featuring arts and crafts, entertainment and international foods, the fiesta takes place Saturday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Pier and Hermosa avenues. Free parking and shuttle service to the fiesta will be provided at Mira Costa High School, Artesia Boulevard and Peck Avenue in Manhattan Beach.

Streets will be blocked off to make way for 450 artists’ booths spotlighting original works from crafts to fine arts. There will be entertainment, ranging from Afro-Caribbean music to marionettes, and pony and train rides for kids.

In Inglewood, one of the South Bay’s oldest ceremonies will be held in front of the War Memorial at City Hall Mall, 1 Manchester Blvd. The 44th annual service at 11 a.m. will include the Morningside High School Band and a reading of the Gettysburg Address. Memorial flowers will be placed at the monument, which was dedicated in 1948 to honor World War II military dead from Inglewood and Lennox.

In other Memorial Day observances:

* Gardena veterans organizations will hold a service at 10 a.m. at Roosevelt Memorial Park Cemetery, 18255 S. Vermont Ave. There will be a barbecue from noon to 4 p.m. at Gen. William Stark Rosecrans VFW Post 3261, 1822 W. 166th St.

* Ceremonies will be held at 11 a.m. at Lomita City Hall, 24300 Narbonne Ave. An open house and lunch follow at Lomita VFW Post 1622, 1865 Lomita Blvd.

* A wreath-laying ceremony will be conducted at 11 a.m. at Pacific Crest Cemetery, 2701 182nd St. There will be a flag pageant and music by the Torrance Youth Band. A picnic will follow at American Legion South Bay Post 184, 412 Camino Real, Redondo Beach.

* Westchester BPO Elks will hold a ceremony from 8 to 9 p.m. at 8025 W. Manchester Ave., Playa del Rey. A medley of patriotic songs will be presented.

Although Memorial Day is observed Monday, it actually falls on Thursday, and Wilmington veterans groups will wait until then for their ceremonies, to be conducted at 11 a.m. at the historic Wilmington Cemetery, Eubank Avenue and O Street.