A day ago Joseph Balku’s Norway Spruce stood 80-feet tall outside his home in Flanders, N.J. Today it is 50 miles away, the new holiday centerpiece of New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza (also home to NBC News). Over the next two weeks, the tree will be decorated with more than 30,000 multi-colored lights on 5-miles of wire. The 80-year old tree has added meaning, it has been dubbed a “Sandy survivor,” coming from an area affected by the recent storm that wreaked havoc across the Northeast. According to AP:
Balku says he watched the tree, which weighs 10 tons and is 50 feet in diameter, as it swayed in the backyard of his Mount Olive property. Balku says it had been bundled for protection. He lost two other trees and just got electricity back over the weekend.
The tree’s arrival in Midtown serves as an unofficial kick-off to the quickly approaching holiday season. This year’s tree-lighting ceremony will be held on Nov. 28, featuring Cee Lo Green and Mariah Carey (among many other talents).
