We noticed recently that guitarist Eric Clapton has announced the date and lineup of this year’s Crossroads Festival.  It’s going to be in Chicago on June 26th and it’s unlikely we’ll be able to make the trip out there.  Which then had us asking what other guitar related festivals are going down this year?  We’ve done a little poking around and here’s a few we’ve found that might be in your neck of the woods.

• Crossroads Festival – The meeting of the world’s best players will occur on June 26th at Toyota Park in Chicago, IL.  The Crossroads Festival supports a good cause – Clapton’s Crossroads Center in Antigua.  Players include Albert Lee, BB King, Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa, John Mayer, The Allman Brothers Band and ZZ Top.
• Guitar Nation Festival – This London festival features performances, demonstrations and seminars from some big names in the world of guitar players.  Players include Steve Vai, Steve Lukather and Whitesnake’s Bernie Marsden and seminars about becoming a session player, tips on demos and working in the music industry.
• Healdsburg Guitar Festival – It’s a luthier’s paradise.  The Healdsburg Guitar Festival features over 130 of the world’s finest luthiers on hand to show, sell and talk about their magnificent creations.  The festival, about an hour north of San Francisco, will take place this August 14-16, 11am-6pm daily.
• New York Guitar Festival – Although this show has already taken place this year we wanted to mention it so you can ready for next year. They had Vernon Reid, Andy Summers, Bill Frisell, Sonny Landreth and surprise guest Bruce Springsteen, Levon Helm + Emmylou Harris!  Crazy!
  
• Newport Guitar Festival – This festival takes place in Miami Beach on April 16th – 18th and will feature a laundry list of guitar manufacturers and performers like Phil Keaggy and Ed King from Lynyrd Skynyrd.
  
• Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival – This one is a guitar fest and a sunny beach vacation all rolled into one.  This is the beach Andy Dufrain ended up on at the end of The Shawshank Redemption.  You better hurry though, it takes place March 14-21, 2010.  It might be our pick of the litter.  While it might not have big names, it definitely seems like a great place.

If you know of more guitar festivals in your neck of the woods please post away in the comments.  Let’s help our guitar brothers and sisters find a show near them.