WEEKEND'S BEST

Art to Go It's time to take the poster of Farrah down and invest in some real art. You can start at the Washington Project for the Arts' Seventh Annual Art Auction at the Departmental Auditorium, 12th and Constitution NW, Saturday at 7:30. Included is work by Yuriko Yamaguchi, Sam Gilliam, Kevin MacDonald, William Christenberry, Chris Gardner and other well-known local artists. Admission to the auction is $25 ($75 with dinner). Bidding for a free silent auction ends Friday at 8, at the WPA, 434 Seventh Street NW, which is also the place to pick up works by emerging Washington artists for prices that start at $35. Call 347-4813. Jazz Duet Composer-arranger Toshiko Akiyoshi leads her jazz quartet, which includes saxophonist/flutist Lew Tabackin, in a concert honoring the 10th anniversary of American Woman Composers Inc. and American Music Week. It's Sunday at 8 in the Baird Auditorium of the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, 10th and Constitution NW. Akiyoshi's big-band albums have received 10 Grammy nominations since 1976, and Downbeat magazine voted her the No. 1 big-band leader in 1978, the only woman ever to win the award. Sponsored by the Resident Associate Program, the concert is $15 for non-members, $10 for members. Call 357-3030.

Oberlin College swings Saturday with "New Orleans Night Out," a benefit scholarship concert at the Pension Building, 440 G Street NW, with radio personality Felix Grant and the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble. This is the music that first made New Orleans famous: blues, stomps, rags, cakewalks and marches. Chef Eddie Baquet of Eddie's Restaurant is flying in from his renowned New Orleans restaurant to fix a mess of Creole gumbo to go along with the raw bar, beignets and pecan pie for the 7 p.m. banquet. The $20 tickets (dinner, drinks are extra) are available at the door or at Ticketplace (12th and F NW). Call 656-1663 for reservations. Halcyon Days The Waterfowl Festival, a mainstay of an Eastern Shore autumn, offers more than 1,000 original paintings and 1,700 prints and photographs by local and nationally known artists this weekend. There'll also be auctions of antique decoys along with goose-calling contests, hunting dog trials, movies and crafts, food and books for sale. Tickets are $5 a day ($10 for all three days; admission to the auction and calling contests is $2 extra for each event). Festival hours are 10 to 8 Friday and Saturday, 10 to 5 Sunday. Take U.S. 50 east about 70 miles to Easton, and look for signs to parking and free shuttle-bus service. Call 301/822-4567. The Longest Walk Nine months and 3,700 miles after it began, the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament ends in Washington this weekend. A thousand marchers are expected at Queens Chapel Road and Eastern Avenue by noon Friday. Saturday's activities begin at 9 at Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park, with remarks by Mayor Marion Barry and emcee Betty Thomas (of "Hill Street Blues"). Then there's one last walk, down 16th Street to Lafayette Park, where Pete Seeger performs, and then on to the Lincoln Memorial and emcee Casey Kasem, for the big 2 p.m. concert. Performers here include Peter Yarrow, Holly Near and peace-march bands Collective Vision and Wild Wimmin for Peace. Later at Track's disco (1111 First Street SE) is a benefit buffet and dance; tickets ($5) are required, and are available at Lambda Rising Bookstore, 1625 Connecticut Avenue NW. (Collective Vision will also perform Saturday night at Food for Thought, 1738 Connecticut Avenue NW.) Call 347-0790 for details. Ski Prep Get your skis, your jackets and your heart pumping this weekend at the "Ski Carnival '86" at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington. To get you off to an inspirational start, sports filmmaker Warren Miller's ski adventure "Beyond the Edge" will be shown every hour on the hour. You'll also get to check out the wares of 70 exhibitors, the tips of downhill and cross-country pros, and a Bavarian beer hall. Hours are 5 to 11 Friday, noon to 11 Saturday, noon to 6 Sunday. Tickets at the door are $7.50, $5 for kids under 12, free for kids under five. Call 486-1234. Rest of the Best IN TOWN

George Washington University presents the "End of the World," a student-produced nuclear-politics satire, Friday and Saturday at 8, Sunday at 2 at the Marvin Center Theater, 21st and H NW. $6, $3 for students and seniors. Call 676-6178 . . . The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences is having its Christmas Bazaar Saturday noon to 5 at the Guy Mason Recreation Center, 3600 Calvert Street NW, with pastries, handcrafted gifts and all-around bohemia. 229-6315 . . . The District of Columbia Antiques Show is 11 to 9 Friday and Saturday and 11 to 5 Sunday at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW. More than 95 exhibitors will be there. $3. 234-0700.

IN MARYLAND

The University of Maryland hosts a piano recital by Jeffrey Biegel, 24-year-old winner of the 1986 William Petschek Piano Debut Award, 7:30 Sunday at the Center for Adult Education. $11.50, $9.50 student and seniors. 454-6534 . . . The $600,000 Washington DC International is part of an 11-race program that starts 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Laurel Racetrack. $3 grandstand, $5 clubhouse. 725-0400. . . The Maryland Food and Wine Celebration is 11 to 8 Saturday, noon to 6 Sunday at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway. $2 for adults, $1 under 21, free under 12. Stomp to bluegrass music, sample and buy foods grown and made in Maryland. 301/727-4808.

IN VIRGINIA

The Icelandic Bazaar is Saturday 10 to 3 at 228 South Pitt Street in Old Town Alexandria, with a bevy of those famous sweaters and specialty foods from up north, plus crafts, Christmas decorations and more. 229-7051 . . . Skilled Hands is an art and craft sale going on from 11 to 6 Saturday and 10 to 6 Sunday at the Westpark Hotel, 8401 Westpark Drive, McLean. Everything from sculpture to teddy bears. 717/486-7100.

Deco-Drama

It's all simply to die for this weekend as the Art Deco Society holds its fourth annual Art Deco Ball, Saturday night from 9 to 2 in the Grand Ballroom of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, 2100 Massachusetts Avenue NW. Dress is black tie, or period attire. The Charleston Sheiks, a 10-piece orchestra under the direction of David Littlefield, will provide enough jazz to get everyone in the mood. Tickets are $40, $75 for couples. But if you can talk your way into a quickie membership ($20 single, $30 for a family for a year), you might be in for a discount. For ticket information call 231-3793.

Sunday morning, you can continue the magic at Empire Productions' "Art Deco to '50s" show and sale at the Sheraton Washington Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road NW, from 11 to 7. The show includes collectibles (furniture, jewelry, glass and more) from the original continental styles (1923-1930), American Ziggaraut and streamline (1930s), transitional, wartime and atomic modern (1940-1955). Admission to the affair is $4. For more info, 244-7611.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.