Parents Camp Out to Sign Up for Summer Camp

'It was like buying tickets to  a rock show," said one parent about the lines last Sunday outside the Silver Lake Recreation center.

But parent weren't there to get tickets to The Cure. They came to hear the Silver Lake coyotes sing while they waited to sign their kids up for summer camp.

The popular nine-week day camp costs just $95 a week and is for children aged 5 to 11.

Folks started showing up at 4 a.m., though Rec Center staff didn't start processing anyone until 9 a.m.  By then about a hundred waited in line.

Marlina Borch was the last person through. She finished  at 3:37 in the afternoon.

Her nine-year-old son plays sports at the Rec Center and went to the camp last year. But this time, he's on the waiting list.

Arlene Cordova, director, said the camp's been getting more popular each year.  She said it's affordable in tough times and the staff is likable.

Some there last Sunday wondered why the processing took so long, though the Center only has two computers.  They also wondered what city budget cuts might do to the program.