An arch, constructed for the 2014 Old Home Week celebration, is set up at the Catasauqua Park.

About a month ago, the 2014 Old Home Week Committee approached Tyler Miller and asked if he could design an arch similar to the ones used in the borough's 1914 celebration. Miller accepted the challenge.

Old Home Week is a celebration for Catasauqua and North Catasauqua residents and friends. This year is the centennial of the first Old Home Week that celebrated the borough's push into the industrial age.

The weeklong celebration begins on June 27 with a party in the Catasauqua Park & Playground and continues through the Independence Day weekend, with events scheduled every day, culminating in a historical house tour on July 6.

A distinctive feature in pictures of Old Home Week from 1914 was the arch. There were several of them on Bridge Street.

Miller looked at photos of the 1914 Old Home Week arches, which spanned major streets in the borough, as the basis for his design and began building the arch.

He has been employed in construction and is now working for a local cabinet maker, so he has the experience.

The Old Home Week Committee provided the lumber and Miller provided the skills.

The volunteer task was huge and the volunteer support was often lacking, but Miller persevered, dodging rainstorms, cajoling friends and family for help.

The work location at the park's community pool, not yet open for the summer season, drew plenty of bystanders, all of whom had different ideas of what was under construction. An arch was seldom mentioned.

On Saturday, with all the components complete and not a cloud in the sky at the 7 a.m. start time, Larry Krautsack, of Larry Krautsack Construction and Renovation Company, pulled onto the pool deck with his telescopic forklift.

"I don't think anything else could lift it," Miller said.

The arch was moved to the another area of the park.

"The pool is scheduled to open and we need to get it out of here," said Miller.

Assembling the arch took longer than the anticipated "few hours." Importantly, it all fit together.

The original plan called for the arch to be moved from the park to the start of the 5K race planned for Old Home Week and then over to North Catasauqua.

The problem was, how to get it there.

"I can lift the whole thing with my forklift," said Krautsack. "But I don't know how we are going to get it down the streets."

The arch is 23 feet wide and 20 feet at the top of the cross beam weighing in at near two tons.

The borough nixed the idea of putting it on a public street because the arch extends down to 13 feet, which is below height minimums.

There is enough treated lumber in the support framing that it might be available for the next centennial celebration. An area for storing the arch needs to be found.

In the meantime, the arch is likely to provide a rallying point for group photos, with a number of events taking place at the park during the week of activities.