This year’s tree made its grand arrival to Manhattan this Saturday via flatbed truck, according to NBC New York. The two-day, 75 mile journey from Wallkill in the Town of Newburgh to Midtown, Manhattan will prove well worth it on Wednesday, Nov. 28 when the tree is lit at during the ceremony that will be broadcasted on live TV. The tree will remain lit every night until 11:30pm through Jan. 7, 2019.
The Christmas Tree lighting will occur at 7pm between West 48th and West 51st Streets and Fifth and Sixth Avenues. There will be live performances from 7-9pm. The annual tree lighting ceremony is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
The 72-foot, 12-ton Norway Spruce will be decked out in approximately 50,000 LED lights and a new Swarovski crystal star designed by Daniel Libeskind, world-renowned architect. It was cut down from Shirley Figuero and Lisette Gutierrez’s farmhouse, according to the Daily Voice. This will be the second time in four years that the Rockefeller Center tree has come from the Hudson Valley.
“After we bought the house, the previous owner told us, ‘Hey, by the way, the tree in the yard? Rockefeller Center has been scouting it,” Figueroa told News 4. “When she told me that, I was like, “Oh, that would be cool,” but I [didn’t] believe it. Until they came knocking on my door.”
The two admitted it was hard to say goodbye to the tree, or ‘Shirley’ as they call it.
“But, it’s for a great cause—and everybody’s going to see it,” Gutierrez told News 4. After the holiday season, the tree will be donated to Habitat for Humanity and used for home-building lumber.
“It’s going to be really amazing to be down there and know that the tree came from our yard,” Figueroa told News 4.
