Meet the 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

The 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is getting ready to be the centerpiece of New York City’s holiday celebrations.

The 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrives on November 11.

The 12-ton, 80 foot tall tree will be wrapped in more than 50,000 multi-colored, energy-saving LED lights and crowned with a 9-foot, 900-pound Swarovski star covered in 3 million crystals.

To celebrate the arrival, there’s a FREE street fair filled with live music and kid-friendly activities, from 10am to 1pm on South Plaza.

Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center Rink

More FREE Things to Do in NYC

About the 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

The 80-year-old Norway Spruce stands 80 feet tall and 43 feet in diameter.

It comes from Vestal, New York, a small town near Binghamton, which also is home to Binghamton University.

The tree lighting ceremony is Wednesday, Nov. 29.

The ceremony is broadcast live nationwide on NBC. The actual lighting is at 8pm NYC time, after an ice skating show and music performances.

For those of you who don’t know – or forgot – the tree is on the plaza directly in front of 30 Rockefeller Center, home of NBC.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree generally stays lit until the first weekend of January.

What Happens to the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree After the Holidays

After the holidays, the Tree will be milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.

The Tree cut into large pieces, which are transported from Rockefeller Center to a mill in New Jersey where the initial rough sawing is done.

From there, the pieces are brought to a landscaping company to be dried in a kiln, milled, and planed until they are soft and smooth. The finished beams are then shipped to the Habitat affiliate chosen to receive the lumber.

For the past 15 years, Rockefeller Center, has donated lumber milled from the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree to Habitat for Humanity.

Partnerships like this one play a critical role in helping Habitat build and maintain strong and stable communities by driving awareness of Habitat’s work and providing a resource for the homes that Habitat builds.

Here’s a story about the man who searches year-round for the perfect Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, on the Rockefeller Center website.

All photos courtesy Rockefeller Center

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as President of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA), a former Board Member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and a current member of the North American Travel Journalists Assn. (NATJA) and the North American Snowsports Journalists Assn. (NASJA).

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.