{"id":56791,"date":"2025-12-01T04:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/56791\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T04:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:09:08","slug":"rockefeller-center-christmas-tree-big-duck-in-flanders-lightings-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/56791\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, Big Duck in Flanders lightings: What to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the kids say, it will be lit Wednesday night in Manhattan and Flanders.<\/p>\n

The annual lightings of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and the Big Duck in Flanders are both scheduled for ceremonies from 7 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The tree in midtown Manhattan, a Norway spruce, came from upstate East Greenbush, in Rensselaer County, a suburb of Albany, on Nov. 8, and will be adorned with more than “50,000 multicolored, energy efficient LED lights,” according to the Rockefeller Center<\/a> website. The lighting of the 75-foot tree, which will be topped with a Swarovski crystal star weighing more than 900 pounds, will be open to the public and broadcast live on NBC.<\/p>\n

The tree, which is about 75 years old, will be at Rockefeller Center until mid-January. It will then be milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity and used for home building.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Big Duck is lit for the season in 2023. Credit: Newsday\/Thomas A. Ferrara<\/p>\n

Suffolk County did not respond to a request for comment on more information regarding the lighting of the Big Duck, which is 20 feet tall, 30 feet long and 18 feet wide, Newsday previously reported<\/a>. Residents typically show up to watch the lighting in person, a tradition that started in 1988.<\/p>\n

“It’s a yearly tradition, a fun family event,” Town of Southampton Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said in 2023<\/a>. “The duck is iconic to Suffolk County, but it’s also a beloved symbol of the Flanders-Riverhead community \u2014 and, while it’s celebrated throughout the year, the lighting at The Big Duck really is a moment. It’s certainly going to be different from the lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center.”<\/p>\n

The Big Duck<\/a> is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and overlooks Reeves Bay in Flanders.<\/p>\n

It was built by Long Island duck farmer Martin Maurer in 1931 \u2014 the same year the first Christmas tree was staged at Rockefeller Center.<\/p>\n

Those interested in attending either of the two lightings likely won’t have to worry about getting wet.<\/p>\n

James Tomasini, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said it will be dry Wednesday afternoon and evening in both Manhattan and Flanders, with temperatures in the low\u00a0to mid-30s.<\/p>\n

“There’s no real wind concern, should be a lighter wind at that time,” Tomasini said, adding there will be “mostly clear skies at that time.”<\/p>\n

\"Joshua<\/p>\n

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the kids say, it will be lit Wednesday night in Manhattan and Flanders. The annual lightings of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63,8016,904,25619],"class_list":{"0":"post-56791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-suffolk","15":"tag-things-to-do","16":"tag-winter-holidays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}