BLASDELL, N.Y. — Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve is opening for the season this weekend.

Tours begin on April 29. School field trips have already started and Phil Stokes, the park's executive director, says they'll continue until June 16. He says the fossils are the main attraction, but there are also nature programs like an owl prowl and free astronomy programs. If you want to dig with the experts, you can do so in June. 

"The idea is that we're gonna give our visitors the opportunity to collect fossils from rocks that have been freshly dug up by heavy construction equipment," said Stokes. "And these rocks contain museum-quality specimens. So things that can be bought, sold and traded and shown off just like any other type of collection. So the experts are paleontologists and fossil collectors from around the country and they'll come here, they'll teach our visitors how to find these incredible fossils how to get them out of the rocks, how to prepare them so that they can have their own collections."

Stokes says it's not only an educational event, but it's also a fundraiser for Penn Dixie. You can find out more at penndixie.org.