The popularity of the Oxford Park Commission Summer Camp is without question as noted by the lines of people forming in the early morning hours to register for the camps each summer.

The lines could easily be mistaken for the ticket line of a popular boy band concert with folks lining up as early as 3 a.m., according to OPC Program Director Sam Pryor.

“People will start arriving at 2 a.m. and the line will start to form by 4 a.m.,” he said Wednesday.

Registration begins officially at 8 a.m. By the end of the day, Pryor said both camp sessions are full with about 40 people on a waiting list.

This year’s summer camp registration will be on May 2 at the Oxford Activity Center. The camp will have two sessions, June 6 to July1 and July 11 to Aug. 5. Camp runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Each session is $300, which is due on registration.

Campers will enjoy athletic activities, swimming three times a week, field trips once a week, arts and crafts and more.

This summer, OPC is adding a few new weeklong camps to its summer agenda to help youth ages 6 to 11 keep their minds as active as their bodies during the summer months.

For kids who like to build, a BanBao building brick camp will begin on July 5. The first session will be four days and run through July 8. The cost is $130. There will be two sessions, one from 8 a.m. to noon and a second from 12:45 to 3:45 p.m. A second camp will be held for five days, from July 11-15 with both morning and afternoon sessions.

Participants will build from BanBao building sets, each day being a new theme.

“One day we’ll be doing different types of pull-back cars,” Pryor said. “Another day we’ll build a music park set and one day it will be a ‘journey into space’ set.”

Campers will be able to take home whatever they build.

Pryor said the camp is hosted by BanBao, which will send an instructor to run the camp while OPC oversees

the organization and registration for the camp.

OPC also will be hosting several engineering-theme camps during the summer months. Each one runs for one week and has morning and afternoon sessions for $140 a session. The camps are for kids ages 6 to 11.

On June 6-10, the Harry Potter Magical Science Tour will have campers cooking up edible potions, making crystals and learning about chemical reactions. The “Can you dig it?” camp also runs June 6 to 10 and will focus on earth sciences and archeology.

“Campers will learn about excavating dinosaur bones,” Pryor said.

On June 20 to 24, two more engineer camps will be held with one focusing on building with three-dimensional kits, complex vehicles and robots. Another camp will focus on making airplanes and bridge building.

The engineering camps will be run by local teachers, Pryor said, and held at the Stone Center.

At each camp, all participants get to keep what they create.

“We’re not really making money off of these camps,” Pryor said. “We’re just covering our costs with the registration fees. But we’re providing a service. It helps keep their minds thinking.”

If a camper attends both morning and afternoon sessions of any of the special theme camps they can stay at the park and will be provided lunch.

For information, call 662-232-2380.