‘Tis the season, already.
The large Christmas tree that can light up TV screens across the country and draw gawking tourists to Rockefeller Center next month began its journey to the Big Apple Thursday.
The 82-foot-tall, 50-foot-wide Norway Spruce was cut down in upstate Queensbury and hoisted onto a big truck for the greater than 200-mile drive all the way down to Midtown Manhattan, in accordance with WTEN-TV.
The 90-year-old tree has been preparing for the journey because it was donated by the Lebowitz family of Glens Falls, NY earlier this 12 months, in accordance with the station.
“We’re feeding it, we’re watering it through the summer. Then about every week and a half ago, we got here up, we began tying the tree, wrapped each branch individually to tie it up. We’ve to get it down from 50 feet to 14 feet so we will travel on the Thruway,” Erik Pauze, the top gardener at Rockefeller Center, said.
Locals gathered to look at the tree get cut down before lining Major Street within the North Country town to get one last take a look at the spruce before it becomes famous.
“My granddaughter, who’s 4, I’ve taken here, taken pictures of her next to it, then when it gets lit, I’m going to do a frame of the tree coming down and her, after which it lit, she’ll remember it for all times. It’s a lifetime story,” Deborah Doetsch told the station.
“I’m just here since it’s just fun, it’s just a beautiful experience to be with people to rejoice goodness,” Debra Grobe said.
The tree was set to reach in the town on Saturday, ahead of a November thirtieth star-studded lighting ceremony where it is going to be adorned with a star produced from 3 million Swarovski crystals.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree tradition dates back to 1933.
It began unofficially two years earlier when Italian laborers tasked with constructing the plaza pooled their money to purchase a 20-foot tree and decorate it with strings of cranberries and garlands of paper.
The festive gesture served as a logo of hope in the course of the Great Depression, and continued to grow in scale and scope 12 months after 12 months.
In 1951, NBC began broadcasting the tree lighting ceremony from coast to coast.