The holiday season is about to start officially with the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
The holiday icon will be lit at 10 p.m. in a live broadcast on NBC. NBC New York’s coverage begins at 7 p.m., with national coverage from 8-10 p.m. It will also be streaming on Peacock.
The best view will likely be from your home, or anywhere inside, as weather is expected to be a bit tricky for much of Wednesday. It will be wet and very windy throughout the day, and once the rains die down, the temperatures are expected to fall, quickly.
For those who are looking to come see the Tree Lighting in person, bring jackets, as temperatures will be in the 40s. Viewing is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
The 50-foot wide, 14-ton tree was brought down to NYC from Queensbury, New York, on a flatbed truck where it was erected at Rockefeller Center on Nov. 14. The tree, believed to be about 85 to 90 years old, was donated by the Lebowitz family of Glen Falls.
Once it completed the roughly 200-mile trek to Manhattan, teams unfolded and hoisted this year’s 82-foot tall Norway Spruce into place.
The tree was dressed with more than 50,000 LED lights on five miles of wire and topped with a Swarovski crystal star. The three-dimensional Swarovski star, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind in 2018, weighs about 900 pounds and features 70 spikes covered in 3 million crystals. The star’s diameter is 9 feet, 4 inches.
After Nov. 30, the lights on the tree will be lit every day from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. On Christmas Day, the tree stays on for 24 hours.
Once the season ends, the tree will be taken down and milled into lumber that is donated to Habitat for Humanity.
Thousands of people will schedule their travel plans to include a visit to the iconic tree and to watch the skaters twirl under its lights. Children will look on in awe at the majesty of its size and take away a memory that will last for years or decades. A magical sight that ushers in the most wonderful season of all.
