Christmas is Back to Rockefeller Center

Christmas is Back to Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center was flooded again this year by thousands of New Yorkers and tourists alike, who wanted to see the lighting of the Christmas tree and the official start of the holiday season. An 80 foot spruce that survived through Hurricane Sandy was the star of the evening, as mayor Bloomberg illuminated the 50 foot wide tree with over 30.000 lights.

The tree was projected on a screen for those who weren't lucky enough to get a good place to see the event. The tree will grace Rockefeller Center until the 7th of January when it will be taken down and transformed into lumber to help build houses with the help of charity foundations.

This is the 80th tree lighting in Rockefeller Center. The first tree was put in place by workers who were building the Center back in 1931. Christmas in 1932 went by with no tree, but from 1933 the lighting ceremony tradition began. The tallest tree ever to be lit at 30 Rockefeller Plaza was a 100 foot spruce back in 1999.

The ceremony was preceded by a series of live performances by artists like Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, Brooke White, CeeLo Green, Il Volo, Victoria Justice, Tony Bennett and Billy Crystal.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Thursday November 29 2012, 4:08 PM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0