Oct. 28 (UPI) — The new Rockefeller Center holiday tree in New York for this year’s season has been selected, according to reports.
On Nov. 9, the 74-foot tall Norway spruce will arrive at Rockefeller Plaza, where the 11 ton, 70-year-old tree will be hoisted into place by crane after arriving in New York City in a flatbed truck from its New England birthplace.
The traditional Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting in a few weeks time will be on Dec. 4 in a televised event.
The tree, donated by the Albert family Berkshire County’s West Stockbridge in western Massachusetts, stands 43 feet in diameter and will be fixed with more than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights on roughly 5 miles of wire.
It’s the first Rockefeller Center tree since 1959 to come from Massachusetts. The tree, meanwhile, will remain in place until mid-January, when it’ll be turned into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.
According to the center’s head gardener, the process to select this year’s tree began in July 2020.
Meet the 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree This year’s Tree comes from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Weighing about 11 tons and standing 74 feet tall, The Tree will arrive on Saturday, 11/9. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates: https://t.co/prpPHsQ78o pic.twitter.com/SbrEp1Rjm9— Rockefeller Center (@rockcenternyc) October 28, 2024
“I came from getting gas after staying overnight tree searching. I saw the beautiful Norway spruce as I drove down the road, and it was right in front of me,” Erik Pauze, Rockefeller Center’s head gardener, told New York Daily News.
“I knocked on the door and met Earl Albert,” said Pauze. “I asked if he would someday consider donating the Tree to Rockefeller Center. His answer was immediately yes.”
Prominently centered and displayed in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Plaza above the site’s storied ice-skating rink, the tree will feature a three-dimensional Swarovski star at its top. The star was designed in 2018 by Daniel Libeskind, the architect whose initial model was the inspiration behind the new and current World Trade Center site.
The 9-foot star will be covered by 3 million crystals and weighs in at roughly 900 pounds.
Monday’s holiday tree news wasn’t only about the one destined for Rockefeller Center. Also on Monday, the White House revealed that its 2024 tree will be harvested from Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in Newland, N.C., a small Ashe County town in the western part of the state hit hard by Hurricane Helene recently.
The White House tree will be cut on Nov. 20 for its trip north to Washington and the nation’s White House, where it will be displayed in the Blue Room per tradition.
Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022 picked a North Carolina Fraser fir tree to display at the vice president’s official residence at One Naval Observatory. This year is the 16th time since 1971 that North Carolina has been selected to provide the executive mansion’s holiday tree.