Last modified: Saturday, June 24, 2006 12:34 AM EDT Steeple chasers BY GLORIA LaBOUNTY/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF NORTH ATTLEBORO They set up their lawn chairs, brought along their snacks and soft drinks, poised their cameras and even passed the popcorn. Anyone driving down Old Post Road Friday would think this group was waiting for a parade. But for more than two dozen members of First Con gregational Church in Oldtown who gathered Friday in front of the Oldtown schoolhouse across the street from their church, this would be the best show in town. `` We are watching from the grandstand,'' said the Rev. Katrina Clinton, pastor of the church. They were excited, for this was the day their church got its steeple back after losing it more than two years ago when the old wooden one was taken down. Since then, a new steeple was created to almost exactly replicate the look of the origi nal one, but out of tougher materials like fiberglass and aluminum. It was brought to the site in April to sit patiently on the ground while preparato ry work was completed. Then Friday morning the crane arrived, and by early afternoon, the three sections of the steeple and the build ing's original bell had been hoisted piece-by-piece into place. `` I'm happy to see it going up,'' said church moderator Ed Clavette. `` It's our day.'' As people came and went through the morning, cheers went up each time one of the sections was lifted and then guided into position by workers from Burgess Co. Steeplejacks of Pembroke, the company hired for the $80,000 restoration project. The final burst of applause came around 1 p.m., when the top dome was snapped into place to complete the steeple, and Clavette gave the workers a thumbs-up. `` It's beautiful,'' someone exclaimed and everyone agreed. Long-time church member Conrad Morel of Attleboro was there for it all. `` We miss the steeple,'' he said. `` It's been gone awhile. We're anxious to see it go up.'' The badly-deteriorated steeple was taken down in the fall of 2003, and the base of the tower was repaired. Meanwhile, the new steeple was manufactured in Texas, then brought to the site more than two months ago. `` We were here when they took it down, and we're here when they put it back up,'' said Richard Beaupre, who lives next door to the Oldtown schoolhouse and who joined the gathering Friday, even though he is not a member of the church. A couple of families had three generations on hand, said Ellen Kingman, treasurer of the church. Her grandchildren were there, and her daughter, Kelly Thibeault, a long-time church member who just completed her theological studies, will be filling in as pastor for the next few weeks while Clinton is on sabbatical. Even the children pitched in by collecting pennies during several years of fundraising that brought in enough to cover the entire cost of the restoration. Members of the congregation donated some of the money, raised some of it through events, and solicited contributions from community members and businesses. The project was seen by many as a community endeavor, since Oldtown Church is one of the town's most historic structures in a neighborhood where the town began. The congregation and the original meeting house date back to the early 1700s, just a few years after the first settlers arrived. The current church was built in 1828 in the heart of Oldtown, then was renovated in the 1950s and expanded in the 1990s. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The bell was cast in the early 1800s by the Holbrook Bell Foundry in Medway, and was tolled by rope until it was electrified in 1959. Now the bell with its new cradle and wheel will be as it once was, and will again be tolled by a rope leading down to the narthex of the church. Clavette said the bell lost some of its personal touch when it was mechanized. `` People my age remember what it was like to pull the rope,'' he said. `` That's something we would like for our children.'' An official celebration and dedication of the new steeple are being planned for the fall, when Clinton returns. But they were already celebrating on Old Post Road Friday, especially since the weather held even though the skies had turned overcast and the air had become oppressive with the threat of thunderstorms by the time the final section went up. `` All summer we've been looking for glimpses of God around us,'' Thibeault said. `` This is it.''