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The
Norway spruce that will travel to New York City hails from West
Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It was scheduled to be cut down
Thursday and make the roughly 140-mile (225-kilometer) journey
south, arriving Nov. 9 in midtown Manhattan.
The tree will be lit during a live TV broadcast on Dec. 4,
featuring 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 and
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.
“We call it the scenic route. So it took six hours instead of
2.5 hours,” Michael Hardinger said. “But we found it and we
found the tree. And we are very happy.”
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 New York to
do some Christmas shopping and visit the tree again, this time
at Rockefeller Center.
“We’re big on Christmas and the Rockefeller tree is something we
must see every year,” Hardinger said. “It’s so beautiful and
it’s fantastic. So to see it here alive before it’s been killed
is thrilling and so much fun.”
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