The tree arrived Saturday morning. Lighting is December 2.
By Mr. Brown | November 7, 2026
A 76-Foot Norway Spruce Makes It to Midtown
A 100-foot flatbed trailer does not sneak through Midtown Manhattan. On Saturday morning, November 7, it did not try. The 2026 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree rolled into Center Plaza, between 49th and 50th Streets and 5th and 6th Avenues, to hundreds of onlookers for what Rockefeller Center called "Meet the Tree Day."
This year's tree is a Norway spruce – 76 feet tall, roughly 50 feet in diameter. It weighs an estimated 11 tons. Its age puts it at around 75 years old. It came from West Edmeston, in Madison County, upstate New York.
The family that donated it is the Decker family. Rebecca Decker is named in Rockefeller Center's official release. The tree grew in the family's yard at 6526 NY-8 in West Edmeston. For roughly three-quarters of a century it stood there. On Thursday, November 5, it did not.
Cut on Thursday, 8 AM, Craned onto a Flatbed
Workers started cutting the tree on Thursday morning, beginning around 8 AM, according to reporting by lohud. Felling a Norway spruce at that size requires careful management. The fall has to be managed carefully, the branches protected, the whole operation timed so the tree lands without damage to the limbs that will eventually be on display in Midtown. Once down, crews used a crane to lift the tree onto the flatbed trailer.
New York State Police escorted the trailer south on NY-8. The handoff came at NY-17 in Deposit, and from there the route continued south toward New York City.
The trailer carrying the tree is 100 feet long. The tree arrived at Rockefeller Plaza Saturday morning and workers began positioning it in the plaza.
Entry Slots Sold Out; Hundreds Came to Watch
The Associated Press reported that the first entry slots for Meet the Tree Day sold out in advance. The event ran from 10 AM to 1 PM. The New York Post described hundreds turning out to watch the arrival.
The Saturday event offered something the December lighting ceremony does not: unobstructed scale. With no lights, no star, no decorations of any kind, the tree's actual size was on full display. At 76 feet tall and roughly 50 feet wide, a Norway spruce does not need embellishment to make an impression. The trunk alone makes the point. Standing in front of it Saturday, with the tree still raw and green from West Edmeston, the 75 years of growth in its structure were there to see. That view changes in December, once the LED lights are strung and the star is mounted at the top.
50,000 Lights and a 900-Pound Star
The decoration requires more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights across the full spread of branches. At the top goes the Swarovski star – 900 pounds, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind in 2018. The star is the visual anchor of the display, the fixed point above 76 feet of illuminated tree.
Wednesday, December 2: The Lights Come On
The lighting ceremony is Wednesday, December 2, from 7 to 10 PM. NBC will broadcast it. That is the night when all 50,000 LED lights come on and the star illuminates at the top. The tree stays on display through January 9, 2027.
The Tradition Goes Back to 1931
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree first appeared at the site in 1931. The first formal lighting ceremony followed in 1933. For more than nine decades since, the tree has anchored the holiday season at Center Plaza.
The 2026 tree is a specimen that takes generations to grow. A Norway spruce 75 years old and 76 feet tall was not planted for this occasion. It grew in West Edmeston, on the Decker family's property, through most of the second half of the 20th century and well into the 21st, before it was selected and donated for the 2026 display.
After January 9: Habitat for Humanity Gets the Lumber
When the display ends on January 9, the tree comes down. Rockefeller Center mills it into lumber and donates the material to Habitat for Humanity. A Norway spruce 76 feet tall and roughly 50 feet in diameter produces a substantial volume of usable wood. That wood goes to affordable housing construction somewhere in the country.
The 2026 tree's arc covers a lot of ground: a family property on NY-8 in rural Madison County, south by 100-foot flatbed with a State Police escort, into Rockefeller Plaza for the holiday season, and eventually into the framing of a Habitat for Humanity build.
