Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree’s arrival kicks off holiday season in New York
The Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree has been hoisted aloft at its new home in Manhattan, marking the start of New York City’s holiday season.
This year’s tree is a 75ft-tall Norway spruce from the town of East Greenbush, a suburb of Albany.
After being cut down this week, it made the roughly 150-mile journey south on a flatbed truck, drawing curious onlookers along the way.
The crowds were much bigger at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where workers used cranes to hoist the tree into position overlooking the famous skating rink.
People gathered with coffee cups and phones as crews secured the spruce and began the careful process of stabilising it.
The tree will be soon be decorated with more than 50,000 multi-coloured, energy-efficient LED lights and crowned with a Swarovski star.
It will be lit on December 3 during a live TV broadcast hosted by country music star Reba McEntire and remain on display until mid-January, after which it will be milled into lumber for use by the affordable housing non-profit Habitat for Humanity.
The tree was donated by homeowner Judy Russ and her family. She said it was planted by her husband’s great-grandparents in the 1920s.
“For this to now become the centre of New York City Christmas is incredible,” Ms Russ told the radio station 1010 WINS.
The first Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree was put up by workers in 1931 to raise spirits during the Great Depression.
The comparatively modest 20ft balsam fir was outfitted with garlands handmade by the workers’ families.
The tradition stuck as the first tree-lighting ceremony was held in 1933.
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