National Fossil Day is back and here on the Island we have Fossil Fred Hotchkiss leading the way. Fossil Fred runs the Marine and Paleobiological Research Institute out of Vineyard Haven and each year gathers an impressive group of experts who will be on hand to talk about their work and hobbies, including fossil hunter and ophthalmologist Dr. Henry Kriegstein (who has a Triceratops fossil in his house), paleontologist Jessica Cundiff, and prehistorian Duncan Caldwell who among other things is lecturer in prehistory at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

But the day is defintely not devoted to the experts. Guests of all ages are invited to bring their own fossils for show and tell or mingle through history as they journey through tables set up at the library.

The event takes place at the Oak Bluffs library on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 4 to 7:45 p.m.