GOINGS ON : Creatures Will be the Main Feature at Natural History Museum Fair : More than 100 live reptiles and amphibians will be on hand for the Santa Barbara event.

A 14-foot Burmese python, a 42-inch Central American green iguana and a two-headed gopher snake may be common characters in your worst nightmares, but they will be guests of honor at the Reptile and Amphibian Fair on Saturday and Sunday at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

There will be more than 100 live creatures, as well as exhibits, film presentations and guest lecturers. Topics will include “The Hands of the Lizard: Chumash Ethnopherpetology,” by Jan Timbrook, the museum’s associate curator of anthropology, and the ecological mystery “Tracking the Vanishing Frogs,” by Ventura author Kathryn Phillips.

The fair will run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 (adults), $4 (senior citizens and teen-agers), $3 (children).

The museum is at 2559 Puesta del Sol Road. Call 682-4711.

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Santa Barbara City College will present a preview performance tonight of Craig Lucas’ offbeat love story “Prelude to a Kiss,” the award-winning Broadway play that was runner-up for a Pulitzer Prize in 1991. The show will continue through May 13 at the campus Studio Theatre.

Shows are 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets for tonight’s show are $8 (general), $6 (students and seniors). General admission for the remainder of the run is $15 (Fridays and Saturdays), $13 (Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays). Call 965-5935. The college is at 721 Cliff Drive.

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The Westmont College spring dance concert on Friday will look at the history of dance in America. The show will include the waltz, the Charleston, the pony, tap, jazz, Hawaiian dance and more. Show time is 8 p.m. at the Porter Hall Theatre. Admission is $5. Call 565-7040. Westmont College is at 955 La Paz Road in Santa Barbara.

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Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in concert on Saturday at Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theater. The program will include compositions by Beethoven, Stravinsky and Ravel. Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets are $19, $25, $37 and $49. Call 966-4324. The Arlington is at 1317 State St.

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Those who pay attention to Santa Barbara events know that the Oak Park cultural series is a tradition. That makes Sunday’s Jewish Festival, the kickoff to the Oak Park season, a big deal. There will be plenty of food (matzo ball soup, knishes, falafel), music (the Ventura Klezmer Band will be there), Israeli dance, and arts and crafts. Admission is free. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The park is at Junipero Street and Alamar Avenue. Call 968-1280 for information.

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A six-day UC Santa Barbara conference on Tibetan Buddhism will open Tuesday with a performance by the 11-member Gyuto Monks Tibetan Tantric Choir. The monks’ sacred, multi-phonic chanting, which dates back to the 15th Century, is intended to bring attention to world peace and understanding. The presentation will begin at 8 p.m. at Campbell Hall. General admission is $12, $15 and $18. Call 893-3535.