How did Rockefeller Center select the centerpiece Christmas tree from New York State?
The same man has chosen Rockefeller Center's trees for 30 years. He said that he knew instantly that this tree was destined for the Big Apple.
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VESTAL, New York – Drum roll, please. The Rockefeller Christmas tree… is the Norway spruce from Vestal, New York.
The 80-foot tall, 12-ton and 43-foot wide tree adorns the side yard of a home near Binghamton on Wednesday, but soon it will wind its way to the city that never sleeps to become the 91st tree to star in the Big Apple's Christmas spectacle on November 11.
Officials estimate the tree is 80 to 85 years old.
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The 2023 Rockefeller Christmas tree comes from a home in Vestal, New York.
(Tishman Speyer / FOX Weather)
How does Rockefeller Center pick a tree?
The public can nominate their own Norway spruces as long as the tree is at least 75 feet tall and 45 feet in diameter. The same man has chosen the tree for three decades. The head gardener for Rockefeller Center, Erik Pauze, scouts, nurtures, and then transports each tree, according to the Rockefeller Center Magazine.
"Typically, the timeline is that all year, almost every day, I’m thinking about this year’s Tree, next year’s Tree, and maybe the Tree after that," Pauze said in an interview with the magazine.
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File: The 2021 Christmas Tree.
(ED JONES/AFP / Getty Images)
He found this year's tree by accident.
"I found the tree in Vestal, New York when I was on my way to look at another tree not too far away," Pauze said. "I had driven to the other tree and took a slow road back and saw this one… I went back this spring and decided to knock…"
He said he knew instantly that the Vestal tree was bound for New York City.
Rockefeller Center in 2016.
(Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
"It’s so tall, and it has the perfect shape. I knew when I saw it that it was going to work… I just had to trim the branches up to 5 or 6 feet," he continued. "It’s a nice shaped tree, and it looks beautiful. When you stand in the street and look at it against the blue sky, it really looks awesome."
He said he looks for trees that anyone would want in their living room, just bigger. And the tree needs the perfect shape all the way around.
"And most of all, it’s gotta look good for those kids who turn the corner at 30 Rock; it needs to instantly put a huge smile on their faces," Pauze said. "It needs to evoke that feeling of happiness."
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File: A family posing in front of the 2016 tree.
(Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
He remembers his parents taking him to see the tree and being so impressed with it. The man who said he's loved planting and landscaping since he was young started at Rockefeller Center as a summer helper while in college in 1988. He went back after school and never left.
He went up to Vestal several times to water, feed and measure the tree. His crew painstakingly wrapped every branch, so they didn't bend or snap in transit.
"The scouting process is my favorite because you get to meet and connect with so many great people along the way, many of whom I’m still in touch with today," he said.
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File: The 2022 tree delivered to Rockefeller Center.
( Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket / Getty Images)
He fessed up to the interviewer that he was not the one to pick his home tree.
The official lighting
The official tree lighting is on November 29, when the five miles of wire covered in more than 50,000 LED lights come to life. Visitors can enjoy the multicolored lights daily from 6 a.m. to midnight, 24 hours on Christmas, until January 14.
The spruce will be crowned with a 900-pound Swarovski crystal star. It is made up of 70 spikes covered in 3 million individual crystals. Architect Daniel Libeskind designed this star in 2018.
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File: The 900 pound star is covered in 3 million crystals.
(KENA BETANCUR/AFP / Getty Images)
‘Life’ after Christmas
Just because the tree comes down doesn't mean the spruce's useful life is over. Since 2007, every tree has been donated to Habitat for Humanity International to be milled for lumber, according to the magazine.
Habitat told the magazine that, in most cases, the lumber goes to a Habitat affiliate where the tree grew. Some homes have exposed lumber with branded stamps to honor the wood's previous life as a Rockefeller Christmas Tree.
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The tree became an annual tradition in 1933. This 1937 tree was a modest version of the Vestal spruce.
(MCNY/Gottscho-Schleisner / Getty Images)
The tradition started when workers building Rockefeller Center during the Great Depression pooled their money and bought a 20-foot balsam fir in 1931. They made their own garlands for decorations. Two years later, the tree became an annual event.