The holiday season is here! One is lighting up New York City. Every year, Rockefeller Center puts out a giant Christmas tree. This year’s tree is as tall as an eight-story building, with more than 50,000 lights. And on November 30, crowds watched as the tree lit up for the holiday season!
Famous musicians rocked out at the lighting ceremony. They included singers Alicia Keys and Jimmie Allen. The Muppets of Sesame Street even made an appearance! Elmo, Cookie Monster, and the gang sang a Christmas tune. Singer Gwen Stefani and country star Blake Shelton took the stage too. And people came from all over to watch the show and see the tree light up.
This tradition is almost 100 years old. Rockefeller Center first got a tree in 1931. It was only 20 feet (6 m) tall. But it still towered over the workers who set it up. Workers hauled the 2022 tree in from Queensbury, New York, on November 12. At 82 feet (25 m) tall, the tree was bigger than the trucks that brought it to NYC!
Erik Pauze is the head gardener for Rockefeller Center. He chooses the tree each year. He found the 2022 tree by accident. Pauze was on his way to look at a different tree. But he spotted this one scraping the sky behind the town’s stores. He got a closer look and knew he had to have the massive plant.
Like past Rockefeller Christmas trees, this one is a Norway Spruce. Pauze thinks that this tree species is perfect. “The Norway Spruce is great,” he told the Rockefeller Center’s newsletter. “It can hold the lights on its branches. And it stands there nice and proud.”
A glittering star tops the Rockefeller Christmas tree. The decoration is covered in 3 million crystals. It weighs around 900 pounds (408 kg). That’s about the same weight as a horse!
Isla, age 13, visited the tree on December 1. The Ohio teen told News-O-Matic that it was her first time seeing a Rockefeller Christmas tree.
“I think it’s really pretty,” she said, “and it looks way bigger than in pictures.”
The tree will stay in Rockefeller Plaza through the holiday season. After that, it will have a new . A group called Habitat for Humanity will use its wood to make houses for people in need. That way, this tree’s warmth will live on long after Christmas ends.
Updated December 2, 2022, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Lucy Albright and Mathis Bauchner
