news

Watch Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Being Cut Down – NBC New York

Vaseline November 9, 2024

Hold your turkeys. It’s time for tinsel and cutting down the Rockefeller Christmas tree.

The 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree comes from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts – the first tree to come from that state since 1959. It was cut down around 8am on Thursday.

The tree that continues what is now NBC’s annual tradition is an 11-ton Norway spruce. According to Rockefeller Center, it is 75 feet high and 43 feet wide. The tree will arrive in the city before the lights later this month.

Here’s everything we know so far about the festivities and more fun facts about the annual extravaganza.

When is the Rockefeller Christmas tree coming?

The 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be cut down from West Stockbridge on November 7 before traveling approximately 140 miles to Manhattan. It will arrive at the square on Saturday, November 9 and be lifted into place.

The arrival of the tree is expected to be a spectacle as always, and according to organizers, family activities for holiday enthusiasts will take place on the South Plaza from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Rock and Roll Playhouse will be performing kid-friendly Christmas classics and there will also be story time with independent bookstore McNally Jackson. The little ones also get the chance to write letters to Santa, decorate their own ornaments and even have their faces painted.

The festivities are free to the public, but those who register in advance will receive a free treat at check-in. Click here for more details.

How is the tree decorated?

After arriving at Center Plaza, more than 50,000 multicolored LEDs will be strung across approximately 5 miles of wire to decorate the 2024 tree. It will then be crowned with a 9-foot, 900-pound Swarovski star covered in 3 million crystals.

It comes from Massachusetts for the first time since 1959.

When is the tree lighting?

The tree lighting show begins on Wednesday, December 4 at 7:00 PM ET. You can watch NBC’s “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” live on TV, on Peacock and wherever you stream NBC 4 New. York.

Here is a brief history of tree lighting

1931 – Construction workers building Rockefeller Center put up a Christmas tree, the first-ever Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
1933 – First formal tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center. The tree was decorated with 700 lights in front of the eight-month-old RCA building.
1936 – Two trees were placed, each 21.3 meters high. For the first time, the lighting ceremony included an ice skating competition on the newly opened Rockefeller Plaza Outdoor Ice Skating Pond.
1942 – Three trees, one decorated in red, one in white and one in blue, have been placed on Rockefeller Plaza to show support for our troops who served during World War II.
1949 – The tree was painted silver to look like snow.
1951 – The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was lit for the first time on national television during the Kate Smith Show.
1966 – The first tree outside the United States was established. It was awarded by Canada in honor of the centenary of its confederation. This is the furthest distance a tree has traveled to Rockefeller Center.
1980 – For the 50th tree lighting, a 70-foot-tall (21.3 m) Norway spruce from the grounds of the Immaculate Conception Seminary of Mahwah, NJ Bob Hope participated in the lighting.
1999 – The largest tree in the history of Rockefeller Center, 100 feet tall, came from Killingworth, Connecticut.
2004 – The star designed by Swarovski became the largest star to ever grace the tree.
2007 – For the first time, the tree was illuminated with energy-efficient LEDs. They use a fraction of the energy the tree traditionally required, reducing energy consumption from 3,510 kWH to 1,297 kWH per day, saving as much energy as a family would use in a month in a 2,000-square-foot home. Hundreds of solar panels on top of one of Rockefeller Center’s buildings help power the new LEDs.
2021 – For the first time, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree comes from Maryland.