NEW YORK – Showtime has come for a tree coming from a small town soon to be installed at Rockefeller Center for the 2020 holiday season.
This year’s tree, an 11-ton, 75-foot tall Norwegian spruce, will be cut down Thursday at a Oneonta City residence and transported to New York City for what is sure to be an unusual season. The tree was donated by Daddy Al’s General Store and it will arrive in Manhattan on a platform Saturday for its revealing world debut.
There will be no public access during the tree’s arrival at Rock Center this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but details on how to visit it will be announced in the coming days.
It is estimated that more than 125 million people visit Rockefeller Center during the Christmas season each year; But, with tourism stalled amid the pandemic, the usual Christmas frenzy is unlikely to be seen during 2020.
Some of the typical Big Apple events during the holidays were canceled, such as the popular Christmas Spectacular in Radio City Music Hall with the famous high kick Rockettes. Meanwhile he Winter Village Bryant Park implemented new security protocols to open last month.
Here are some historical facts about the Rockefeller Center tree:
1931 – The construction workers who built Rockefeller Center put up a Christmas tree and it was Rockefeller Center’s first Christmas tree.
1933 – It was Rockefeller Center’s first formal tree lighting ceremony. The tree was decorated with 700 lights in front of the eight-month-old RCA building.
1936 – Two trees were installed, each 70 feet (21.3 m) tall. For the first time, the lighting ceremony included a skating contest at the newly opened Rockefeller Plaza outdoor ice skating rink.
1942 – Three trees were placed in Rockefeller Plaza, one decorated in red, one in white, and one in blue to show support for our troops who served during WWII.
1949 – The tree was painted silver, to make it look like snow.
1951 – The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was first lit on national television during the Kate Smith Show.
1966 – The first tree outside the United States is installed. It was delivered by Canada, in honor of the Centennial of its Confederacy. This is the farthest distance a tree has ever traveled to Rockefeller Center.
1980 – For the 50th anniversary of the tree lighting, a 70-foot-tall (21.3 m) Norway Spruce came from the Immaculate Conception Seminary grounds in Mahwah, NJ, Bob Hope participated in the event.
1999 – The largest tree in Rockefeller Center history, 100 feet tall (30.5 m), came from Killingworth, Connecticut.
2004 – The star designed by Swarovski became the largest star that has ever adorned the tree.
2007 – For the first time, the tree was illuminated with energy efficient LEDs. They consume a fraction of the energy traditionally required by the tree, reducing energy consumption from 3,510 kWh to 1,297 kWh per day, saving as much energy as a single family would use in a month in an area of 2,000 square feet (185.8 m²) home. Hundreds of solar panels atop one of the Rockefeller Center buildings help power the new LEDs.
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