MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) — An annual holiday tradition takes place Wednesday night with the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
The 75-foot-tall Norway Spruce came from a home in East Greenbush, New York.
Judy Ross donated the tree in honor of her late husband and other family members. She said it was planted by her husband’s great-grandparents in the 1920s.
The iconic tree will be decked out in more than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights and crowned with a Swarovski star weighing 900 pounds.
The lighting will happen just before 10 p.m.
Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is lifted by a crane into place at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York.
AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
The tree lighting also marks the start of street closures near Rockefeller Center for the holiday season.
On the designated Gridlock Alert Days, drivers should expect extensive street closures and/or delays across Manhattan. New Yorkers are encouraged to get around by using regional rail lines, the subway and bus system, ferries, cycling, and walking.
The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was put up by workers in 1931 to raise spirits during the Great Depression. The comparatively modest 20-foot balsam fir was outfitted with garlands handmade by the workers’ families.
The tradition stuck as the first tree-lighting ceremony was held in 1933.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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