50,000 bulbs to sparkle Rockefeller Christmas tree

NEW YORK (AP):

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree arrived in New York City on Saturday, signalling the start of the holiday season in the Big Apple.

The 74-foot Norway spruce was driven into Manhattan's Center Plaza, where it was hoisted in place by a crane. It will take five miles of light strands with more than 50,000 multicoloured LED bulbs to wrap the tree, whose diameter measures 43 feet.

A Swarovski star crown sparkling with three million crystals will top it.

The towering conifer, donated by the Albert family in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was cut down last Thursday morning and loaded onto a flatbed truck for the 140-mile trip. It is the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to come from Massachusetts since 1959.

It was met in New York City by smiling crowds who held cell phones aloft from behind barriers as crews attached cables to the giant tree, pounded a stake into its base, and guided it into place.

The lighting ceremony is December 4.

When the tree is taken down in January, it will be milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.