This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a 76-foot Norway spruce from West Edmeston, a hamlet in central New York, and it reaches the plaza between Fifth and Sixth avenues on Saturday, Nov. 7. Rockefeller Center has posted the details on its holiday page, along with the date of the lighting: Wednesday, Dec. 2.

That leaves a little under four weeks between the day the tree arrives and the night it is switched on. Then it stays up through mid-January 2027.

Meet the Tree Day, Nov. 7

The arrival itself is now an event. Meet the Tree Day returns for its second year on Nov. 7, and it is free and open to everyone, with entry on a first-come, first-served basis. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. a Holiday Workshop, presented by Care Bears and FAO Schwarz, fills part of the plaza: six Care Bears characters to meet, holiday letters to write, a Caring Tree where visitors can add a wish or an act of kindness, photo spots, and a craft table called the Care-A-Lot Craft Corner for making keepsakes.

Rockefeller Center also sells a combined Meet the Tree and Top of the Rock ticket for guaranteed, faster entry that morning. The free option needs no ticket at all, only an early start.

The lighting, Dec. 2

The Tree Lighting Ceremony runs from 7 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 2. When the switch is thrown, the spruce will carry more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights under the Swarovski star at the top. Rockefeller Center has not yet named performers or hosts for the broadcast and says to check back for visiting hours and further details.

After the lighting, the tree can be seen from the Plaza and from The Rink below it every day of the season.

Where the tree comes from

West Edmeston is a small community in central New York, upstate. This year's tree is a Norway spruce, and at 76 feet it will stand well above the gilded Prometheus statue and the rink at its foot.

When the season ends, the tree goes to Habitat for Humanity: Rockefeller Center donates its lumber to the homebuilding nonprofit, a partnership the center describes on its own site.

Seeing it from above

For a view from higher up, Top of the Rock sells holiday tickets that include up-close tree access along with the observation deck, starting at $42 for timed admission. A skip-the-line version starts at $82. Neither is required to see the tree, which costs nothing to visit from the street.

Getting there

Rockefeller Center is on Fifth Avenue between 48th and 51st streets. The B, D, F and M trains stop at 47-50 Sts-Rockefeller Center, a block away on Sixth Avenue. Rockefeller Center's visitor line is 1-877-692-7625.

Mark the calendar: the tree arrives Saturday, Nov. 7, with the free Meet the Tree Day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and lights up Wednesday, Dec. 2, from 7 to 10 p.m. It stays on view through mid-January.

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