1st MD Christmas Tree Arrives At Rockefeller Center In NYC

ELKTON, MD — A 79-foot-tall Norway Spruce from Elkton, Maryland, was installed Saturday as the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

A tree lighting ceremony is set for Dec. 1 in Midtown to get New Yorkers in the holiday spirit.

The tree was cut down on Thursday in Elkton, where it stood for about 85 years in the yard of Julie and Devon Price. It's measurements are massive: Forty-six feet in diameter, and a weight of 12 tons.

Rockefeller Center's chief gardener, Erik Pauze, spotted the enormous tree while on a spontaneous drive through Maryland after taking a scouting trip through nurseries and farms in southern New Jersey, the Baltimore Sun reported.

This is the first tree from Maryland to be the centerpiece of Christmas celebrations at Rockefeller Center, Delaware Online reported. When the holidays are over, its lumber will be donated to the Habitat for Humanity chapter serving the Elkton area.

The tradition began in 1931, when construction workers building Rockefeller Center first put up a Christmas tree. A formal tree lighting ceremony was first held two years later and the occasion has become more elaborate over time, first airing on national television in 1951.

Stay tuned: the 2021 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrives in 2 days! pic.twitter.com/HCrVYCp8BI
— Rockefeller Center (@rockcenternyc) November 11, 2021

Unlike last year, when pedestrian visits to the tree were limited due to the coronavirus, it appears likely that this year's tree will be easier for New Yorkers to view.

Leaders have called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to follow what was done in 2019, when the city blocked off 49th and 50th streets between Fifth and Sixth avenues to car traffic in an effort to make room for pedestrians. Up to 20,000 pedestrians passed through the area each hour before the pandemic, clogging the street in front of Saks Fifth Avenue and, of course, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.