Fossil Fred wants you to take a trip to the past and he’s bringing along a bunch of friends to make the journey extra special.

National Fossil Day is Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Oak Bluffs Library and Fred Hotchkiss, also known as Fossil Fred and the director of the Marine and Paleobiological Research Institute, will be there. So, too, will Dr. Maurice Tivey of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, dinosaur hunter and ophthalmologist Dr. Henry Kriegstein, paleobotanist and landscape designer Dr. Alicia Lesnikowska, diving contractors and instructors Heidi Raihofer and Joe Leonardo, grade schoolers Jacob and Sam Gurney who like to travel to fossil destinations on family vacations, artist and swim instructor Michael Wooley, Oak Bluffs library director Sondra Murphy, Martha’s Vineyard Museum educator Nancy Cole and others. All will be displaying fossils at tables set up in the library, and will be ready to discuss what they found and how they found it.

Fossil Day is free and attendees are invited to bring along their own fossils.

The event is from 4 to 7:45 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs Library, 56R School street. Call 508-693-9433 for more information.