Rockefeller Christmas tree is harvested from upstate New York and begins trek to Manhattan

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EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. (AP) — The towering Christmas tree that will light up Rockefeller Center this holiday season is on its way to New York City.

The 75-foot-tall (23-meter-tall) Norway spruce was felled Thursday morning in East Greenbush, an Albany suburb located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Manhattan.

The 11-ton tree was then loaded onto a 100-foot-long (31-meter-long) trailer as scores of people turned out for the occasion. It is expected to arrive Saturday at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where it will take its place in front of the midtown Art Deco skyscraper overlooking the plaza's famous ice skating rink.

The tree will be wrapped with more than 50,000 multicolored, energy efficient LED lights and crowned with a Swarovski star weighing 900 pounds (408 kilograms).

It will be lighted on Dec. 3 during a live TV broadcast hosted by country music star Reba McEntire. It will be displayed until mid-January, after which it will be milled into lumber for use by the affordable housing nonprofit Habitat for Humanity.

The tree was donated by homeowner Judy Russ and her family. She said the tree was planted by her husband's great-grandparents in the 1920s.

“For this to now become the center of New York City Christmas is incredible,” Russ told the radio station 1010 WINS.

The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was put up by workers in 1931 to raise spirits during the Great Depression. The comparatively modest, 20-foot-tall (6-meter-tall) balsam fir was outfitted with handmade garlands made by the workers' families.

The tradition stuck as the first annual tree-lighting ceremony was held in 1933.