December 3, 2008
2007 Rockefeller Christmas Tree facts
2007 Tree Fact Box
Type:
Norway Spruce
Dimensions:
84 feet high
48 feet in diameter
Age:
75 years old
Origin:
Home of Joe and Judy Rivnyak of Shelton, CT
Lights:
30,000 multicolored light bulbs five miles of wire
Swarovski Star:
The star, designed by Swarovski, is adorned with 25,000 crystals and
one million facets.
Tree Lighting:
Wednesday, 7:-9: p.m. at Rockefeller Plaza
Hours of Illumination:
The tree stays lit each day from 5:30AM - 11:30PM; all day (24 hours)
on Christmas; and from 5:30AM - 9PM on New Year¹s Eve. The last day to view the tree is Jan. 8
Tree timeline
1931 - Workmen on a muddy construction site put up a Christmas tree.
1933 - First formal Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony. The tree
was decked with 700 lights in front of the eight-month-old RCA Building.
1936 - Two trees, each 70 feet tall, were erected. For the first time
the Lighting Ceremony included a skating pageant on the newly opened Rockefeller Plaza Outdoor Ice Skating Pond.
1942 - Three trees were placed on Rockefeller Plaza, one decorated in
red, one in white and the other in blue to show support for our troops serving during World War II.
1949 - The tree was painted silver, to look like snow.
1951 The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was lighted for the first
time on national television of the Kate Smith Show.
1966 - The first tree from outside the United States was erected. It
was given by Canada, in honor of the Centennial of its Confederation. This is the farthest distance a tree has traveled to Rockefeller Center.
1980 - A 70 foot-tall Norway Spruce came from the grounds of the
Immaculate Conception Seminary of Mahwah, N.J. Bob Hope participated in the Lighting.
1999 The largest tree in Rockefeller Center history, 100 feet high,
was chosen from Killingworth, CT.
2004 The Swarovski-designed star is created. It is the largest star
to ever grace the tree, measures 9 1/2 feet in diameter and 1 1/2 feet dee
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