The holiday season is in full swing in New York City, but not without its most iconic annual lighting ceremony.
The Rockefeller Center tree lighting marks the most wonderful time of the year in NYC when thousands gather to get rockin’ around the Christmas Tree. The 90th annual tree lighting takes place on Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. and will be lit daily following Nov. 30 from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. The tree stays lit for 24 hours on Christmas Day and from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
Tree Facts
Standing at 82 feet tall, the Norway Spruce is 50 feet wide and weighs 14 tons. Approximately 5 miles of wire will string more than 50,000 LED lights across the gigantic Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
The 85-90-year-old tree comes from Queensbury, New York and will hold a three-dimensional Swarovski star designed by Architect Daniel Libeskind in 2018. The 70-spiked star is covered in 3 million crystals and weighs approximately 900 pounds.
As is tradition for the Rockefeller tree, it will be donated at the end of the Holiday season to Habitat for Humanity to be turned into lumber for home building.
Who’s performing
The 2022 ceremony is to be hosted by NBC News’ TODAY co-anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin. The live national broadcast of “Christmas at Rockefeller Center” will air from NBC at 8 p.m. Easter Standard Time and 7 p.m. Central Time.
This year, the musical performances will be headlined by Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, who will perform a duet of their holiday single, “You Make It Feel Like Christmas.” There will be several performances throughout the night from Alicia Keys, Brett Eldredge, Jimmie Allen, Andrea Bocelli along with Matteo Bocelli and Virginia Bocelli, David Foster and Katharine McPhee, Mickey Guyton, the Muppets of Sesame Street, Dan + Shay, The Shindellas, Louis York and more.
Street Closures
Starting Nov. 30 through mid-January, streets surrounding Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall at West 49th Street and West 50th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, will only be open to pedestrians during the most congested hours, between 11 a.m. and 12 a.m. midnight every day, using movable barriers to partially or fully close streets to cars and alleviate foot traffic along sidewalks.
The tree will be lit daily from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. throughout the season. On Christmas Day, the tree will be lit for 24 hours and on New Year’s Eve it is lit from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information about the tree, visit rockefellercenter.com.
