Burlington's Chase Allen digs rocks.

The Shoshone and 59ers rock clubs are honoring the 13-year-old through the new Young Entrepreneur Program, designed to encourage future youth involvement, to help Allen market his Mini-Fossil Discovery Kits during this weekend's Big Horn Basin Rock Show. He is the first to receive the honor.

Allen first found a passion for rocks through his family. They live in an area where they can essentially hunt rocks and fossils in the backyard. While Allen is like most typical teenagers when being questioned — a lot of one-word answers — he lights up when you bring up the subject of fossils.

"They're old and cool and were alive once, but I don't have to feed them," he said with a smile, adding that finding a fossil helps him to connect more with these animals that used to roam what is now Wyoming.

Allen jumped at the opportunity to buy out Wink Bennett, who developed the product line before moving south. Bennett was looking for a youngster to run with the finished product and Allen decided to dedicate his time to the business. Despite taking out a small-business loan and scheduling appearances, the hardest part is finding the time during this busy eighth-grader's day.

"Chase is a busy kid," said his mother Robin. "He does wrestling, basketball, football, track and 4-H so for a while, we probably cooled off our rockhounding — just because there's only so many hours in a day."

However, Chase will have to find the time to search for his products, which consists of fossils that are millions of years old. Even finding a place to hunt fossils takes time. You can't just wander out on public land and collect material to sell. All of his products must be discovered on private land.

The young entrepreneur has purchased hunting rights on some promising private land and is always looking for a good place to hunt. He's hoping to share his love for rockhounding with more kids his age.

The kit allows kids to find their own fossils, energizing them to go outdoors and hunt for their own finds. Allen loves a good rock hunt, traveling from Cody to Laramie and beyond to find different fossils and rocks. He loves to get out on a hunt, which has an advantage over many activities he might choose.

"Rocks are cheap and fun to find. Well, easy to find, mostly," he said.

He is a whiz at finding devil's toenails (fossil shells of Gryphaea, an extinct genus of oyster), star crinoids (sometimes called "sea lilies," marine animals related to starfish and sea urchins) and the squid belemnites (marine animals belonging to the phylum Mollusca and the class Cephalopoda. Their closest living relatives are squid and cuttlefish).

His short-term goal is to find a resource for ocean predators, he said.

"I want to find shark teeth on land," he said, having learned through his research that Wyoming has a rich history of prehistoric oceans, notably the Sundance Sea and the Western Interior Seaway. During the Middle Jurassic period, the Sundance Sea covered much of Wyoming. The Western Interior Seaway, a shallow, inland sea, extended across parts of North America, including Wyoming, during the Cretaceous period.

He might get a chance to find a tooth or two soon, as the family is planning a hunt near Shell this summer.

"It's a great way for families to get out and get away from the phone and get some time outside," Robin said.

Chase gets his entrepreneurial spirit from his mother, who has a T-shirt business, and his father Tim Allen, who owns Tool Man Rental and Sales. Chase hopes to make his first sale at the show so he can start to pay off the loan on his first small business.

"I'm motivated by debt. I don't got no money," he said with a laugh.

Chase isn't the only rockhound vendor offering cool activities for the whole family. The Montana Agate Shack's Eddie White is bringing Mexican geodes to the show to sell. The geodes are purchased whole and then White will crack them open for the customer to reveal the crystals inside.

It might also be a great time to schedule a guided rockhounding trip on the Yellowstone River with White. Having over 20 years of experience on the river, White promises to show you the best time you can have in the dirt and teach you how to locate a good area and find your own treasures like moss agate. It's a lesson that can lead to a lifetime of fun, said Shoshone Rock Club President Ilene Olson.

"He has a way of using a big chain to wrap around the geode to put pressure on it and crack them open," Olson said.

Geodes are spherical rocks containing hollow cavities lined with crystals. These cavities, often filled with minerals like quartz, amethyst or calcite, form within sedimentary or volcanic rocks. You can find geodes in Wyoming, but they are more prevalent in other areas of the world, she said. White will also be bringing his brand of rockhounding humor on T-shirts and other products with sayings like "Schists Happen."

There's something for everyone at the 2025 Big Horn Basin Rock Show, Olson said. Other show highlights include: Dan Dalton of Powell, who will demonstrate obsidian and flint-knapping. This year he has been experimenting with materials like agate, which needs to be heated to make it brittle enough to make blades and points; "Lapidary Gary" Olson of Powell, who will demonstrate how to grind and polish stones for jewelry by hand; free activities for kids; a fluorescent rock display; Greybull Dinosaur Museum display; a rock identification table with experts identifying participant's rocks; and Curt Talbot's amazing display of fossils. There will also be 15 vendors this year, including Gary's beautiful cabochons.

The Cody 59ers Rock Club and the Shoshone Rock Club are once again combining their efforts to put on the show. It's a little different from the state rock show, held in Powell last year. There will still be lots of activities and fun for the whole family, but not a series of speakers. Both clubs will also be taking applications for new memberships.

The show takes place Friday and Saturday at the Park County Fairgrounds. Hours are from 1-7 p.m. Friday, May 30, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, May 31.

Admission is $5 per person; kids under 12 get in free.