By Basant El-Faramawy
The 76-foot Norway spruce selected as this year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was cut down Thursday in West Edmeston, New York, beginning its 200-mile journey to Manhattan.
Tree specifications
The roughly 75-year-old conifer weighs 11 tons and measures 50 feet in diameter. A crane hoisted it onto a flatbed truck for the trip to Rockefeller Plaza, where it will stand above the famous skating rink.
Decoration and lighting
Once in place, the tree will be wrapped with more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights and topped with a 900-pound Swarovski star. A televised lighting ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 2.
Display and afterlife
The display will remain on view until Jan. 9, after which the tree will be milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.
Tradition dating to 1931
The tradition began in 1931 when construction crews building Rockefeller Center erected a modest 20-foot balsam fir decorated with handmade garlands during the Great Depression. The first formal lighting ceremony took place in 1933. Last year’s tree, also a Norway spruce, came from East Greenbush, about 150 miles north of Manhattan.
