Vaccine Therapy With or Without Sargramostim in Treating Patients With Stage IIB, Stage IIC, Stage III, or Stage IV Melanoma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Diagnosis of melanoma Stage IIB, IIC, III, or IV disease Must express HLA-A1, -A2, or -A3 No ocular melanoma PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age 12 and over Performance status ECOG 0-1 Life expectancy Not specified Hematopoietic Absolute neutrophil count > 1,000/mm^3 Platelet count > 100,000/mm^3 Hemoglobin > 9 g/dL Hepatic Liver function tests ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) Renal Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN Cardiovascular No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease Other Not pregnant or nursing No other malignancy within the past 5 years except basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer without brain metastasis, carcinoma in situ of the breast, or carcinoma in situ of the cervix PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy More than 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy More than 4 weeks since prior growth factors More than 4 weeks since prior allergy shots No prior vaccine therapy for melanoma or any other cancer with any of the peptides used in this study More than 12 weeks since prior melanoma vaccine therapy* NOTE: *Prior melanoma vaccine allowed only for patients with disease progression during or after administration of the vaccine Chemotherapy More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy Endocrine therapy More than 4 weeks since prior steroids Radiotherapy More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy Surgery Not specified