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Event Information:
Watch the New York Xmas Tree
Lighting live streaming
The NY
Christmas Tree for has arrived
safely at the Rockefeller Plaza,
having survived the onslaught of
Hurricane Sandy. This year's tree
will be decorated with over 30,000
energy efficient LED lights, and
topped with a Swarovski star. The
80th Annual Tree Lighting takes
place on November 28th, and features
live skaters on the ice rink, a
performanced by the Radio City
Rockettes, and appearances stars who
will have to follow on from last
year's VIP guests Olivia Wilde and
Justin Bieber.
The
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is
an annual Christmas tree lighting
that takes place in New York City's
Rockefeller Center, in mid-town
Manhattan. The tree is erected and
lit in early December or
late-November. In recent years, the
lighting has been broadcast live
nationwide on NBC's Christmas in
Rockefeller Center show. The tree,
usually a Norway spruce 69 to 100 ft
(21 to 30 m) tall, has been put up,
with the exception of 1932, every
year since 1931. In 2010, the tree
was lit on November 30, and is
scheduled to remain illuminated
until the first week of January,
. The tallest Christmas tree at
Rockefeller Center was a 100 ft (30
m) foot spruce erected on November
11, 1999 that was being cared for by
Cathy and Jim Thomson.
Although the official Christmas tree
tradition at Rockefeller Center
began in 1933 (the year the 30
Rockefeller Plaza opened), the
unofficial tradition began during
the Depression-era construction of
Rockefeller Center, when workers
decorated a smaller 20 ft (6.1 m)
balsam fir tree with "strings of
cranberries, garlands of paper, and
even a few tin cans" on Christmas
Eve (December 24, 1931), as
recounted by Daniel Okrent in his
history of Rockefeller Center. Some
accounts have the tree decorated
with the tin foil ends of blasting
caps. There was no Rockefeller
Center Christmas tree in 1932.
Many
Rockefeller trees were given to
Rockefeller Center by donors. The
late David Murbach, Mgr. of the
Gardens Division of Rockefeller
Center, scouted in a helicopter for
the desired tree in areas including
Connecticut, Vermont, Ohio, upstate
New York, New Jersey, and even
Ottawa, Canada. Once a suitable tree
is located, a crane supports it
while it is cut, and moves it to a
custom telescoping trailer that can
transport trees up to 125 ft (38 m)
tall, although the width of New York
City streets passing through
Rockefeller Center limits the height
of the trees to 110 ft (34 m).
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