WEST STOCKBRIDGE, Massachusetts: The Christmas tree that will adorn the Rockefeller Center in New York City this year will travel from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
It will be cut down this week and make the roughly 140-mile (225-kilometer) journey south, reaching midtown Manhattan on November 9.
The tree will be lit during a live TV broadcast on December 4. It will feature 50,000 multi-colored lights with a Swarovski star on top and remain on display until mid-January.
Local residents were flocking to the tree this week, which was planted 67 years ago in honor of the homeowner’s nieces. Several workers could be seen high up in the 11-ton (9.97-metric-ton) tree, tying up its branches for a trip down south.
It is the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to come from Massachusetts since 1959.
“There’s a lot of people coming to town that are interested in this. So, people are at the house taking pictures and excited about it,” said Bernie Fallon, a resident of West Stockbridge, a town of 1,400 in western Massachusetts. “The talk of the town, local gossip, and conversation is quite high.”
Peter Giles Thorne, another resident, called it a “wonderful story.”
“A hometown tree makes good,” he said with a chuckle.
Among those visiting the Christmas tree were Michael and Tania Hardinger, tourists from Denmark. They flew into New York and drove up to Massachusetts, a trip that took longer than anticipated after Michael Hardinger took the wrong way.
Hardinger said the trip was inspired by their love of Christmas, with the family having two and sometimes three Christmas trees in their house in Copenhagen. Both musicians, they will return to Denmark to play a few concerts before coming back to New York to do some Christmas shopping and visit the tree again, this time at the Rockefeller Center.
