This year’s Christmas tree for Rockefeller Center in Manhattan was cut down Thursday, Nov. 5, in West Edmeston, New York. The roughly 23-meter spruce is expected to reach midtown on Saturday, Nov. 7. The lighting ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 2.
The chosen tree is a Norway spruce. It is about 75 years old and stands 76 feet, or about 23 meters, tall, with a span of about 15 meters.
On Thursday, technical crews used a crane to lift the cut tree onto a flatbed truck trailer. Footage from the preparations showed the loading before the roughly 322-kilometer (200-mile) journey to New York City.
The tree will be set up at Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, near the landmark ice rink. Before the December ceremony, decorators will string it with more than 50,000 energy-efficient, multicolored LED lights. A Swarovski star weighing about 408 kilograms will top the tree. The lighting ceremony will take place Dec. 2 and will be broadcast live.
The tradition of putting up a Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center dates to 1931. At that time, workers building the complex put up a small tree decorated with handmade garlands. The first official tree-lighting ceremony was held two years later, in 1933. Since then, the event has become a fixture of the New York holiday season.
This year’s tree will remain at Rockefeller Plaza until Jan. 9. After the display ends, it will be taken down, and its wood will go to the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for people in need.
Editor: JŁ
Source: Nowy Dziennik
