Manteca is going for a world record on Thursday at 5 p.m.

The record?

How many Mantecans they can get gathered in a photo under the new arch spanning South Main Street between Wetmore Street and Moffat Boulevard following the official ribbon cutting and lighting of the $620,000 arch.

And then Mayor Gary Singh and other city officials are encouraging participants to “walk like a Mantecan” — a nod to the Manteca Waterslides radio ad jingle that was a takeoff of the 1986 “Walk Like an Egyptian” hit by The Bangles — under the arch and continue walking to the Music on Maple event that starts at 6 p.m. in the 100 block of North Main Street.

It’s Jammin’ Manteca reggae night at the free entry event on Maple. The evening will include an open skate.

There will be a band, vendor booths, food trucks, a beer garden, and more.

Mayor Gary Singh said the photo session will “be a photo for the history books.”

And so will the arch which is unlike any other community arch in the region and perhaps California as a whole.

That’s because LED lights are part of “MANTECA” at the top of the sign as well as those built into the support columns can be programmed into different colors such as red, white and blue on the Fourth of July, red and green at Christmas, orange during the Manteca Pumpkin fair among various options.

The arch is meant to celebrate the entire community — its past, present, and future — as well as call attention to downtown.

It’s been 109 years since Manteca civic leaders had a hankering to put the community’s name in lights above a main drag.

The year was 1917.

Manteca was on a roll.

South San Joaquin Irrigation District was working its magic.

Irrigation water was transforming Manteca and its surrounding countryside.

Depending upon accessibility to irrigation water, farmland was selling $80 to $130 an acre.

Advertisements boasted “no tract of land more than three miles from the railroad.”

There were 567 residents living in the Manteca town site and in close proximity based on a Christmas census in 1916.

Six months later, the population hit 1,250 as farmland was being snapped up.

The 1917 “arch” version was simply a metal box with the name of “Manteca” held in midair by wire stretched high above the street.

It was back when street lighting in downtown was a series of bulbs widely spaced strung across the street on a wire. They were turned off nightly before midnight.

The simple “Manteca” sign was hung near the midpoint of the 100 block of West Yosemite Avenue.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email wyatt@mantecabulletin.com