NEW YORK (AP) — This year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was cut down on Thursday and will be trucked to New York City to usher in the holiday season.
The 76-foot (23-meter) Norway spruce is expected to arrive Saturday following its journey from a yard in West Edmeston, New York. The conifer is approximately 75 years old and measures 50 feet (15 meters) in diameter.
A crane hoisted the tree onto a flatbed truck before it began the 200-mile (322-kilometer) trip to its perch at Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, where it will overlook the center’s iconic skating rink.
Then the tree will be wrapped with more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights and crowned with a 900-pound (408-kilogram) Swarovski star. It will be lit during a televised ceremony on Dec. 2.
The tradition dates back to 1931, when crews building Rockefeller Center put up a small Christmas tree with handmade garlands. The first formal lighting ceremony took place in 1933.
The Rockefeller Christmas tree will be on display until Jan. 9, after which it will be milled into lumber for the housing nonprofit Habitat for Humanity.
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