Explore More
Make sure your sleigh bells are jingling.
It’s that time of year, when coffee shops are selling seasonal peppermint drinks, holiday markets are popping up and Hallmark movies about big-city career women falling for small-town men are playing on TV nonstop.
And, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has been put up.
If you want to watch the most iconic evergreen get lit — or visit it while it’s up — here’s everything you need to know.
How to watch the tree lighting on TV and streaming services
This year, the 91st annual “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” will air via a two-hour telecast on Wednesday, Nov. 29, at 8 p.m. on NBC. (It will also be simulcast streaming on Peacock.)
According to Rockefeller Center, the tree itself will officially be lit “a few minutes before 10 p.m.”
Rockefeller Center’s Instagram page will also post a Reel of the light-up moment, right after it happens.
Who’s performing
Kelly Clarkson will host the 2023 Rockefeller Center tree lighting — and she’ll pull double-duty, as both host and performer.
There will also be commentary from “Today” co-anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin.
Other celebrities slated to appear at the event include Chlöe Bailey, Adam Blackstone, Cher, David Foster, Liz Gillies, Darlene Love, Seth MacFarlane, Barry Manilow, Katharine McPhee, Keke Palmer, Carly Pearce and Manuel Turizo.
Blackstone and Palmer, Foster and McPhee, and Gillies and MacFarlane will perform holiday duets.
Cher will perform solo, and she’ll be joined by Love for a special song.
The Radio City Rockettes will also perform at the lighting ceremony.
What are the viewing hours to see the tree
The tree will be lit daily from 5 a.m. to midnight, until it gets taken down two weeks after New Year’s Eve. On Christmas Day, the tree is lit for 24 hours, and on New Year’s Eve, it is lit from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
How the tree is selected
The 2023 tree is an 80-foot Norway spruce that weighs 12 tons. It’s adorned with more than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights, on approximately five miles of wire wrapped around it.
The three-dimensional Swarovski star on top is covered in 3 million crystals.
This year’s tree was donated by the McGinley family from the town of Vestal, New York, about 190 miles northwest of NYC, and it arrived on Nov. 11.
“I found the tree in Vestal, New York, when I was on my way to look at another tree, not too far away,” Rockefeller Center Head Gardener Erik Pauze said.
“I had driven to the other tree and took a slow road back, and saw this one,” he told the Center Magazine in October. “I went back this spring and decided to knock . . . The McGinley family told me that not too long before I knocked on the door, someone told them, ‘That looks like a Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.’ “
He added that this Norway spruce is, “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.”
When will the tree be taken down?
The tree will come down on Jan. 13, 2024, at 10 p.m. According to NBC, after the tree leaves Rockefeller Center, it will be donated to Habitat for Humanity and milled into lumber that will be used for sustainable home building.
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7kGpma3Ffmru1sdGtmKKmnZq7tXvRqJqknZaaua2x0Waanqakmr9ur8eroKysnZbAbsDRnpxmpJmctbW1zaBka2hiaHqpu9Zmq6hlp5bBpLSMsJ%2Boq12lsrOyzqukoqaXZA%3D%3D